american  jHen  of 


EDITED   BY 


CHARLES  DUDLEY  WARNER. 


Thou  wert  tbe  morning  star  among  the  living, 

Ere  thy  fair  ligbt  bad  fled: 
Now,  having  died,  tbou  art  as  Hesperus,  giving 

New  splendor  to  tbe  dead." 


American  S^en  of 


RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 


OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 


TENTH   THOUSAND. 


BOSTON: 
HOUGHTON,   MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY. 

New  York:   11  East  Seventeenth  Street. 


1885. 


Copyright,  1884, 
BY  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge  : 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  &  Co. 


URL, 

FS 
11*31 


NOTE. 

MY  thanks  are  due  to  the  members  of  Mr.  Emer 
son's  family,  and  the  other  friends  who  kindly  as 
sisted  me  hy  lending  interesting  letters  and  furnish 
ing  valuable  information. 

The  Index,  carefully  made  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Wiggin, 
was  revised  and  somewhat  abridged  by  myself. 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 
BOSTON,  November  25,  1884. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION 


CHAPTER  L 

1803-1823.     To  JET.  20. 

Birthplace.  —  Boyhood.  —  College  Life 37 

CHAPTER    IL 
1823-1828.    ^x.  20-25. 

Extract  from  a  Letter  to  a  Classmate.  —  School-Teach 
ing.  —  Study  of  Divinity.  —  "Approbated  "  to  Preach. 
—  Visit  to  the  South.  —  Preaching  in  Various  Places  48 

CHAPTER   III. 

1828-1833.     Mt.  25-30. 

Settled  as  Colleague  of  Rev.  Henry  Ware.  —  Married  to 
Ellen  Louisa  Tucker.  —  Sermon  at  the  Ordination  of 
Rev.  H.  B.  Goodwin.  —  His  Pastoral  and  Other  La 
bors.  —  Emerson  and  Father  Taylor.  —  Death  of 
Mrs.  Emerson.  —  Difference  of  Opinion  with  some  of 
his  Parishioners.  —  Sermon  Explaining  his  Views.  — 
Resignation  of  his  Pastorate  55 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
1833-1838.     JET.  30-35. 

§  1.  Visit  to  Europe.  —  On  his  Return  preaches  in  Differ 
ent  Places.  —  Emerson  in  the  Pulpit.  —  At  Newton. 

—  Fixes  his  Residence  at  Concord.  —  The  Old  Manse. 

—  Lectures  in  Boston.  —  Lectures  on  Michael  An- 
gelo  and  on  Milton  published  in  the  "  North  Ameri 
can  Review."  —  Beginning  of  the  Correspondence 
with  Carlyle. — Letters  to  the  Rev.  James  Freeman 
Clarke.  —  Republication  of  "  Sartor  Resartus." 

§  2.  Emerson's  Second  Marriage.  —  His  New  Residence 
in  Concord.  —  Historical  Address.  —  Course  of  Ten 
Lectures  on  English  Literature  delivered  in  Boston. 

—  The  Concord  Battle  Hymn.  —  Preaching  in  Con 
cord  and  East  Lexington.  —  Accounts  of  his  Preach 
ing  by  Several  Hearers.  —  A  Course  of  Lectures  on 
the  Nature  and  Ends  of  History. — Address  on  War. 

—  Death  of   Edward   Bliss  Emerson.  —  Death   of 
Charles  Chauncy  Emerson. 

§  3.  Publication  of  "  Nature."  —  Outline  of  this  Essay. — 
Its  Reception.  —  Address  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society 62 

CHAPTER   V. 
1838-1843.     ^Er.  35-40. 

§  1 .  Divinity  School  Address.  —  Correspondence.  —  Lec 
tures  on  Human  Life.  —  Letters  to  James  Freeman 
Clarke.  —  Dartmouth  College  Address  :  Literary  Eth 
ics.  —  Waterville  College  Address :  The  Method  of 
Nature.  —  Other  Addresses:  Man  the  Reformer. — 
Lecture  on  the  Times.  —  The  Conservative.  —  The 
Transcendentalist.  —  Boston  "  Transcendentalism." 

—  "  The  Dial."  —  Brook  Farm. 

§2.  First  Series  of  Essays  published.  —  Contents:  His 
tory,  Self-Reliance,  Compensation,  Spiritual  Laws, 


CONTENTS.  V 

Love,  Friendship,  Prudence,  Heroism,  The  Over-Soul, 
Circles,  Intellect,  Art.  —  Emerson's  Account  of  his 
Mode  of  Life  in  a  Letter  to  Carlyle.  —  Death  of 
Emerson's  Son. — Threnody 116 

CHAPTER  VI. 

1843-1848.     JET.  40-45. 

"  The  Young  American."  —  Address  on  the  Anniversary 
of  the  Emancipation  of  the  Negroes  in  the  British 
West  Indies.  —  Publication  of  the  Second  Series  of 
Essays.  —  Contents  :  The  Poet.  —  Experience.  — 
Character.  —  Manners.  —  Gifts.  —  Nature.  —  Politics. 
—  Nominalist  and  Realist.  —  New  England  Reform 
ers. —  Publication  of  Poems.  —  Second  Visit  to  Eng 
land  179 

CHAPTER  VII. 

1848-1853.     JET.  45-50. 

The  "  Massachusetts  Quarterly  Review."  —  Visit  to  Eu 
rope.  —  England.  —  Scotland.  —  France.  —  "  Repre 
sentative  Men  "  published.  I.  Lives  of  Great  Men. 
II.  Plato ;  or,  the  Philosopher ;  Plato ;  New  Read 
ings.  III.  Swedenborg ;  or,  the  Mystic.  IV.  Mon 
taigne  ;  or,  the  Skeptic.  V.  Shakespeare ;  or,  the 
Poet.  VI.  Napoleon  ;  or,  the  Man  of  the  World. 
VII.  Goethe ;  or,  the  Writer.  —  Contribution  to  the 
"  Memoirs  of  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli  " 193 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
1853-1858.     JET.  50-55. 

Lectures  in  various  Places.  —  Anti-Slavery  Addresses. — 
Woman.  A  Lecture  read  before  the  Woman's  Rights 
Convention.  —  Samuel  Hoar.  Speech  at  Concord.  — 
Publication  of  "  English  Traits."  —  The  "  Atlantic 
Monthly."  —  The  "  Saturday  Club  "......  210 


yi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IX. 
1858-1863.     JET.  55-60. 

Essay  on  Persian  Poetry.  —  Speech  at  the  Burns  Centen 
nial  Festival.  —  Letter  from  Emerson  to  a  Lady.  — 
Tributes  to  Theodore  Parker  and  to  Thoreau.  —  Ad 
dress  on  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  —  Publica 
tion  of  "The  Conduct  of  Life."  Contents:  Fate; 
Power;  Wealth;  Culture;  Behavior;  Considerations 
by  the  Way  j  Beauty ;  Illusions 224 

CHAPTER  X. 
1863-1868.     JET.  60-65. 

"Boston  Hymn."  —  "Voluntaries."  —  Other  Poems.— 
"May-Day  and  other  Pieces."  —  "Remarks  at  the 
Funeral  Services  of  President  Lincoln."  —  Essay  on 
Persian  Poetry.  —  Address  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Free 
Religious  Association.  —  "Progress  of  Culture."  Ad 
dress  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  of  Harvard 
University.  —  Course  of  Lectures  in  Philadelphia.  — 
The  Degree  of  LL.  D.  conferred  upon  Emerson  by 
Harvard  University.  —  "Terminus" 240 

CHAPTER  XI. 

1868-1873.     JET.  65-70. 

Lectures  on  the  Natural  History  of  the  Intellect.  —  Publi 
cation  of  "Society  and  Solitude."  Contents:  Soci 
ety  and  Solitude.  —  Civilization.  —  Art.  —  Eloquence. 

—  Domestic  Life.  —  Farming.  —  Works  and  Days.  — 
Books.  —  Clubs.  —  Courage.  —  Success.  —  Old  Age. 

—  Other  Literary  Labors.  —  Visit  to  California. — 
Burning  of  his  House,  and  the  Story  of  its  Rebuild 
ing. —  Third  Visit  to    Europe,  —  His  Reception  at 
Concord  on  his  Reiurn  ...  .  249 


CONTENTS.  vii 

CHAPTER  XII. 

1873-1878.     Mf.  70-75. 

Publication  of  "Parnassus."  —  Emerson  Nominated  as 
Candidate  for  the  Office  of  Lord  Rector  of  Glasgow 
University.  —  Publication  of  "  Letters  and  Social 
Aims."  Contents  :  Poetry  and  Imagination.  —  Social 
Aims.  —  Eloquence.  —  Resources.  —  The  Comic.  — 
Quotation  and  Originality.  — Progress  of  Culture.  — 
Persian  Poetry.  —  Inspiration.  —  Greatness.  —  Im 
mortality.  —  Address  at  the  Unveiling  of  the  Statue 
of  "  The  Miuute-Man  "  at  Concord. —  Publication  of 
Collected  Poems 280 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

1878-1882.     Mi.  75-79. 

Last  Literary  Labors.  —  Addresses  and  Essays.  —  "  Lec 
tures  and  Biographical  Sketches."  —  "  Miscellanies  "  294 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Emerson's  Poems 310 

CHAPTER   XV. 

Recollections  of  Emerson's  Last  Years.  —  Mr.  Conway's 
Visits.  —  Extracts  from  Mr.  Whitman's  Journal.  — 
Dr.  Le  Baron  Russell's  Visit.  —  Dr.  Edward  Emer 
son's  Account.  —  Illness  and  Death.  —  Funeral  Ser 
vices  343 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

EMERSON. A    RETROSPECT. 

Personality  and  Habits  of  Life.  —  His  Commission  and 
Errand.  —  Asa  Lecturer.  —  His  Use  of  Authorities. 
—  Resemblance  to  Other  Writers.  —  As  influenced 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

by  Others.  —  His  Place  as  a  Thinker.  —  Idealism  and 
Intuition.  —  Mysticism.  —  His  Attitude  respecting 
Science.  —  As  an  American.  —  His  Fondness  for  Sol 
itary  Study.  —  His  Patience  and  Amiability.  —  Feel 
ing  with  which  he  was  regarded.  —  Emerson  and 
Bums.  —  His  Religious  Belief.  —  His  Relations  with 
Clergymen.  —  Future  of  his  Reputation.  —  His  Life 
judged  by  the  Ideal  Standard 357 


INTRODUCTION. 


"  I  HAVE  the  feeling  that  every  man's  biog 
raphy  is  at  his  own  expense.  He  furnishes  not 
only  the  facts,  but  the  report.  I  mean  that  all 
biography  is  autobiography.  It  is  only  what  he 
tells  of  himself  that  comes  to  be  known  and 
believed." 

So  writes  the  man  whose  life  we  are  to  pass 
in  review,  and  it  is  certainly  as  true  of  him  as 
of  any  author  we  could  name.  He  delineates 
himself  so  perfectly  in  his  various  writings  that 
the  careful  reader  sees  his  nature  just  as  it  was 
in  all  its  essentials,  and  has  little  more  to  learn 
than  those  human  accidents  which  individualize 
him  in  space  and  time.  About  all  these  acci 
dents  we  have  a  natural  and  pardonable  curios 
ity.  We  wish  to  know  of  what  race  he  came, 
what  were  the  conditions  into  which  he  was 
born,  what  educational  and  social  influences 
helped  to  mould  his  character,  and  what  new 
elements  Nature  added  to  make  him  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson. 

He  himself  believes  in  the  hereditary  trans- 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

mission  of  certain  characteristics.  Though  Na 
ture  appears  capricious,  he  says,  "  Some  quali 
ties  she  carefully  fixes  and  transmits,  but  some, 
and  those  the  finer,  she  exhales  with  the  breath 
of  the  individual,  as  too  costly  to  perpetuate. 
But  I  notice  also  that  they  may  become  fixed 
and  permanent  in  any  stock,  by  painting  and 
repainting  them  on  every  individual,  until  at 
last  Nature  adopts  them  and  bakes  them  in  her 
porcelain." 

We  have  in  New  England  a  certain  number 
of  families  who  constitute  what  may  be  called 
thfe  Academic  Races.  Their  names  have  been 
on  college  catalogues  for  generation  after  gener 
ation.  They  have  filled  the  learned  professions, 
more  especially  the  ministry,  from  the  old  colo 
nial  days  to  our  own  time.  If  aptitudes  for  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  can  be  bred  into  a 
family  as  the  qualities  the  sportsman  wants  in 
his  dog  are  developed  in  pointers  and  setters,  we 
knowr  what  we  may  expect  of  a  descendant  of 
one  of  the  Academic  Races.  Other  things  be 
ing  equal,  he  will  take  more  naturally,  more 
easily,  to  his  books.  His  features  will  be  more 
pliable,  his  voice  will  be  more  flexible,  his  whole 
nature  more  plastic  than  those  of  the  youth  with 
less  favoring  antecedents.  The  gift  of  genius  is 
never  to  be  reckoned  upon  beforehand,  any  more 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

than  a  choice  new  variety  of  pear  or  peach  in  a 
seedling ;  it  is  always  a  surprise,  but  it  is  born 
with  great  advantages  when  the  stock  from 
which  it  springs  has  been  long  under  cultiva 
tion. 

These  thoughts  suggest  themselves  in  looking 
back  at  the  striking  record  of  the  family  made 
historic  by  the  birth  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 
It  was  remarkable  for  the  long  succession  of 
clergymen  in  its  genealogy,  and  for  the  large 
number  of  college  graduates  it  counted  on  its 
rolls. 

A  genealogical  table  is  very  apt  to  illustrate 
the  "  survival  of  the  fittest,"  —  in  the  estimate 
of  the  descendants.  It  is  inclined  to  remember 
and  record  those  ancestors  who  do  most  honor 
to  the  living  heirs  of  the  family  name  and  tra 
ditions.  As  every  man  may  count  two  grand 
fathers,  four  great-grandfathers,  eight  great- 
great-grandfathers,  and  so  on,  a  few  generations 
give  him  a  good  chance  for  selection.  If  he 
adds  his  distinguished  grandmothers,  he  may 
double  the  number  of  personages  to  choose  from. 
The  great-grandfathers  of  Mr.  Emerson  at  the 
sixth  remove  were  thirty-two  in  number,  unless 
the  list  was  shortened  by  intermarriage  of  rela 
tives.  One  of  these,  from  whom  the  name  de 
scended,  was  Thomas  Emerson  of  Ipswich,  who 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

furnished  the  staff  of  life  to  the  people  of  that 
wonderfully  interesting  old  town  and  its  neigh 
borhood. 

His  son,  the  Reverend  Joseph  Emerson,  min 
ister  of  the  town  of  Mendon,  Massachusetts, 
married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Reverend 
Edward  Bulkeley,  who  succeeded  his  father,  the 
Reverend  Peter  Bulkeley,  as  Minister  of  Con 
cord,  Massachusetts. 

Peter  Bulkeley  was  therefore  one  of  Emer 
son's  sixty-four  grandfathers  at  the  seventh  re 
move.  We  know  the  tenacity  of  certain  family 
characteristics  through  long  lines  of  descent,  and 
it  is  not  impossible  that  any  one  of  a  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  grandparents,  if  indeed  the  full 
number  existed  in  spite  of  family  admixtures, 
may  have  transmitted  his  or  her  distinguishing 
traits  through  a  series  of  lives  that  cover  more 
than  two  centuries,  to  our  own  contemporary. 
Inherited  qualities  move  along  their  several 
paths  not  unlike  the  pieces  in  the  game  of  chess. 
Sometimes  the  character  of  the  son  can  be 
traced  directly  to  that  of  the  father  or  of  the 
mother,  as  the  pawn's  move  carries  him  from 
one  square  to  the  next.  Sometimes  a  series  of 
distinguished  fathers  follows  in  a  line,  or  a  suc 
cession  of  superior  mothers,  as  the  black  or 
white  bishop  sweeps  the  board  on  his  own  color. 
Sometimes  the  distinguishing  characters  pass 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

from  one  sex  to  the  other  indifferently,  as  the 
castle  strides  over  the  black  and  white  squares. 
Sometimes  an  uncle  or  aunt  lives  over  again  in 
a  nephew  or  niece,  as  if  the  knight's  move  were 
repeated  on  the  squares  of  human  individuality. 
It  is  not  impossible,  then,  that  some  of  the  qual 
ities  we  mark  in  Emerson  may  have  come  from 
the  remote  ancestor  whose  name  figures  with 
distinction  in  the  early  history  of  New  Eng 
land. 

The  Reverend  Peter  Bulkeley  is  honorably 
commemorated  among  the  worthies  consigned  to 
immortality  in  that  precious  and  entertaining 
medley  of  fact  and  fancy,  enlivened  by  a  wilder 
ness  of  quotations  at  first  or  second  hand,  the 
Magnolia,  Christi  Americana,  of  the  Reverend 
Cotton  Mather.  The  old  chronicler  tells  his  story 
so  much  better  than  any  one  can  tell  it  for  him 
that  he  must  be  allowed  to  speak  for  himself  in 
a  few  extracts,  transferred  with  all  their  typo 
graphical  idiosyncrasies  from  the  London-printed 
folio  of  1702. 

"  He  was  descended  of  an  Honourable  Family  in 
Bedfordshire.  —  He  was  born  at  Woodhil  (or  Odel) 
in  Bedfordshire,  January  31st,  1582. 

"  His  Education  was  answerable  unto  his  Origi 
nal  ;  it  was  Learned,  it  was  Genteel,  and,  which  was 
the  top  of  all,  it  was  very  Pious :  At  length  it  made 
him  a  Batchellor  of  Divinity,  and  a  Fellow  of  Saint 
John's  Colledge  in  Cambridge. 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

"  When  he  came  abroad  into  the  World,  a  good 
benefice  befel  him,  added  unto  the  estate  of  a  Gen 
tleman,  left  him  by  his  Father  ;  whom  he  succeeded 
in  his  Ministry,  at  the  place  of  his  Nativity :  Which 
one  would  imagine  Temptations  enough  to  keep  him 
out  of  a  Wilderness." 

But  he  could  not  conscientiously  conform  to 
the  ceremonies  of  the  English  Church,  and  so, — 

"When  Sir  Nathaniel  Brent  was  Arch-Bishop 
Laud's  General,  as  Arch-Bishop  Laud  was  another's, 
Complaints  were  made  against  Mr.  Bulkly,  for  his 
Non-Conformity,  and  he  was  therefore  Silenced. 

"  To  New-England  he  therefore  came,  in  the  Year 
1635 ;  and  there  having  been  for  a  while,  at  Cam 
bridge,  he  carried  a  good  Number  of  Planters  with 
him,  up  further  into  the  Woods,  where  they  gathered 
the  Twelfth  Church,  then  formed  in  the  Colony,  and 
call'd  the  Town  by  the  Name  of  Concord. 

"  Here  he  buried  a  great  Estate,  while  he  raised 
one  still,  for  almost  every  Person  whom  he  employed 
in  the  Affairs  of  his  Husbandry.  — 

"He  was  a  most  excellent  Scholar,  a  very-well 
read  Person,  and  one,  who  in  his  advice  to  young 
Students,  gave  Demonstrations,  that  he  knew  what 
would  go  to  make  a  Scholar.  But  it  being  essential 
unto  a  Scholar  to  love  a  Scholar,  so  did  he  ;  and  in 
Token  thereof,  endowed  the  Library  of  Harvard- 
Colledge  with  no  small  part  of  his  own. 

"  And  he  was  therewithal  a  most  exalted  Chris 
tian  —  "  In  his  Ministry  he  was  another  Farel,  Quo 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

nemo  tonuit  fortius  —  And  the  observance  which  his 
own  People  had  for  him,  was  also  paid  him  from  all 
sorts  of  People  throughout  the  Land ;  but  especially 
from  the  Ministers  of  the  Country,  who  would  still 
address  him  as  a  Father,  a  Prophet,  a  Counsellor,  on 
all  occasions." 

These  extracts  may  not  quite  satisfy  the  ex 
acting  reader,  who  must  be  referred  to  the  old 
folio  from  which  they  were  taken,  where  he  will 
receive  the  following  counsel :  — 

"  If  then  any  Person  would  know  what  Mr. 
Peter  Bulkly  was,  let  him  read  his  Judicious 
and  Savory  Treatise  of  the  Gospel  Covenant, 
which  has  passed  through  several  Editions,  with 
much  Acceptance  among  the  People  of  God."  It 
must  be  added  that  "  he  had  a  competently  good 
Stroke  at  Latin  Poetry ;  and  even  in  his  Old 
Age,  affected  sometimes  to  improve  it.  Many 
of  his  Composure  are  yet  in  our  Hands." 

It  is  pleasant  to  believe  that  some  of  the  qual 
ities  of  this  distinguished  scholar  and  Christian 
were  reproduced  in  the  descendant  whose  life  we 
are  studying.  At  his  death  in  1659  he  was  suc 
ceeded,  as  was  mentioned,  by  his  son  Edward, 
whose  daughter  became  the  wife  of  the  Reverend 
Joseph  Emerson,  the  minister  of  Mendon  who, 
when  that  village  was  destroyed  by  the  Indians, 
removed  to  Concord,  where  he  died  in  the  year 
1680.  This  is  the  first  connection  of  the  name 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

of  Emerson  with  Concord,  with  which  it  has 
since  been  so  long  associated. 

Edward  Emerson,  son  of  the  first  and  father 
of  the  second  Reverend  Joseph  Emerson,  though 
not  a  minister,  was  the  next  thing  to  being  one, 
for  on  his  gravestone  he  is  thus  recorded :  "  Mr. 
Edward  Emerson,  sometime  Deacon  of  the  first 
church  in  Newbury."  He  was  noted  for  the 
virtue  of  patience,  and  it  is  a  family  tradition 
that  he  never  complained  but  once,  when  he 
said  mildly  to  his  daughter  that  her  dumplings 
were  somewhat  harder  than  needful,  —  "  but  not 
often."  This  same  Edward  was  the  only  break 
in  the  line  .of  ministers  who  descended  from 
Thomas  of  Ipswich.  He  is  remembered  in  the 
family  as  having  been  "  a  merchant  in  Charles- 
town." 

Their  son,  the  second  Reverend  Joseph  Emer 
son,  Minister  of  Maiden  for  nearly  half  a  cen 
tury,  married  Mary,  the  daughter  of  the  Rev 
erend  Samuel  Moody,  —  Father  Moody,  —  of 
York,  Maine.  Three  of  his  sons  were  ministers, 
and  one  of  these,  William,  was  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Concord  at  the  period  of  the  outbreak 
of  the  Revolutionary  War. 

As  the  successive  generations  narrow  down 
towards  the  individual  whose  life  we  are  recall 
ing,  the  character  of  his  progenitors  becomes 
more  and  more  important  and  interesting  to  the 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

biographer.  The  Eeverend  William  Emerson, 
grandfather  of  Ralph  Waldo,  was  an  excellent 
and  popular  preacher  and  an  ardent  and  devoted 
patriot.  He  preached  resistance  to  tyrants  from 
the  pulpit,  he  encouraged  his  townsmen  and 
their  allies  to  make  a  stand  against  the  soldiers 
who  had  marched  upon  their  peaceful  village, 
and  would  have  taken  a  part  in  the  Fight  at  the 
Bridge,  which  he  saw  from  his  own  house,  had 
not  the  friends  around  him  prevented  his  quit 
ting  his  doorstep.  He  left  Concord  in  1776  to 
join  the  army  at  Ticonderoga,  was  taken  with 
fever,  was  advised  to  return  to  Concord  and  set 
out  on  the  journey,  but  died  on  his  way.  His 
wife  was  the  daughter  of  the  Reverend  Daniel 
Bliss,  his  predecessor  in  the  pulpit  at  Concord. 
This  was  another  very  noticeable  personage  in 
the  line  of  Emerson's  ancestors.  His  merits  and 
abilities  are  described  at  great  length  on  his 
tombstone  in  the  Concord  burial-ground.  There 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  his  epitaph  was  com 
posed  by  one  who  knew  him  well.  But  the 
slabs  which  record  the  excellences  of  our  New 
England  clergymen  of  the  past  generations  are 
so  crowded  with  virtues  that  the  reader  can 
hardly  help  inquiring  \whether  a  sharp  bargain 
was  not  driven  with  the  stonecutter,  like  that 
which  the  good  Vicar  of  Wakefield  arranged 
with  the  portrait-painter.  He  was  to  represent 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

Sophia  as  a  shepherdess,  it  will  be  remembered, 
with  as  many  sheep  as  he  could  afford  to  put  in 
for  nothing. 

William  Emerson  left  four  children,  a  son 
bearing  the  same  name,  and  three  daughters,  one 
of  whom,  Mary  Moody  Emerson,  is  well  remem 
bered  as  pictured  for  us  by  her  nephew,  Ralph 
Waldo.  His  widow  became  the  wife  of  the 
Reverend  Ezra  Ripley,  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and 
his  successor  as  Minister  at  Concord. 

The  Reverend  William  Emerson,  the  second 
of  that  name  and  profession,  and  the  father  of 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  was  born  in  the  year 
1769,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in 
1789.  He  was  settled  as  Minister  in  the  town 
of  Harvard  in  the  year  1792,  and  in  1799  be 
came  Minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston. 
In  1796  he  married  Ruth  Haskins  of  Boston. 
He  died  in  1811,  leaving  five  sons,  of  whom 
Ralph  Waldo  was  the  second. 

The  interest  which  attaches  itself  to  the  im 
mediate  parentage  of  a  man  like  Emerson  leads 
us  to  inquire  particularly  about  the  characteris 
tics  of  the  Reverend  William  Emerson  so  far  as 
we  can  learn  them  from  his  own  writings  and 
from  the  record  of  his  Contemporaries. 

The  Reverend  Dr.  Sprague's  valuable  and 
well-known  work,  "Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit,"  contains  three  letters  from  which  we 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

learn  some  of  his  leading  characteristics.  Dr. 
Pierce  of  Brookline,  the  faithful  chronicler  of 
his  time,  speaks  of  his  pulpit  talents  as  extra 
ordinary,  but  thinks  there  was  not  a  perfect 
sympathy  between  him  and  the  people  of  the 
quiet  little  town  of  Harvard,  while  he  was 
highly  acceptable  in  the  pulpits  of  the  metrop 
olis.  In  personal  appearance  he  was  attractive  ; 
his  voice  was  melodious,  his  utterance  distinct, 
his  manner  agreeable.  "  He  was  a  faithful  and 
generous  friend  and  knew  how  to  forgive  an 
enemy.  —  In  his  theological  views  perhaps  he 
went  farther  on  the  liberal  side  than  most  of  his 
brethren  with  whom  he  was  associated.  —  He 
was,  however,  perfectly  tolerant  towards  those 
who  differed  from  him  most  widely." 

Dr.  Charles  Lowell,  another  brother  minister, 
says  of  him,  "  Mr.  Emerson  was  a  handsome  man, 
rather  tall,  with  a  fair  complexion,  his  cheeks 
slightly  tinted,  his  motions  easy,  graceful,  and 
gentlemanlike,  his  manners  bland  and  pleasant. 
He  was  an  honest  man,  and  expressed  himself 
decidedly  and  emphatically,  but  never  bluntly  or 
vulgarly.  —  Mr.  Emerson  was  a  man  of  good 
sense.  His  conversation  was  edifying  and  use 
ful  ;  never  foolish  or  undignified.  —  In  his  the 
ological  opinions  he  was,  to  say  the  least,  far 
from  having  any  sympathy  with  Calvinism.  I 
have  not  supposed  that  he  was,  like  Dr.  Free- 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

man,  a  Humanitarian,  though  he  may  have  been 
so." 

There  was  no  honester  chronicler  than  our 
clerical  Pepys,  good,  hearty,  sweet-souled,  fact- 
loving  Dr.  John  Pierce  of  Brookline,  who  knew 
the  dates  of  birth  and  death  of  the  graduates  of 
Harvard,  starred  and  unstarred,  better,  one  is 
tempted  to  say  (JETibernice),  than  they  did  them 
selves.  There  was  not  a  nobler  gentleman  in 
charge  of  any  Boston  parish  than  Dr.  Charles 
Lowell.  But  after  the  pulpit  has  said  what  it 
thinks  of  the  pulpit,  it  is  well  to  listen  to  what 
the  pews  have  to  say  about  it. 

This  is  what  the  late  Mr.  George  Ticknor  said 
in  an  article  in  the  "  Christian  Examiner "  for 
September,  1849. 

"  Mr.  Emerson,  transplanted  to  the  First 
Church  in  Boston  six  years  before  Mr.  Buck- 
minster's  settlement,  possessed,  on  the  contrary, 
a  graceful  and  dignified  style  of  speaking,  which 
was  by  no  means  without  its  attraction,  but  he 
lacked  the  fervor  that  could  rouse  the  masses, 
and  the  original  resources  that  could  command 
the  few." 

As  to  his  religious  beliefs,  Emerson  writes  to 
Dr.  Sprague  as  follows :  "  I  did  not  find  in  any 
manuscript  or  printed  sermons  that  I  looked  at, 
any  very  explicit  statement  of  opinion  on  the 
question  between  Calvinists  and  Socinians.  He 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

inclines  obviously  to  what  is  ethical  and  uni 
versal  in  Christianity ;  very  little  to  the  personal 
and  historical.  —  I  think  I  observe  in  his  writ 
ings,  as  in  the  writings  of  Unitarians  down  to  a 
recent  date,  a  studied  reserve  on  the  subject  of 
the  nature  and  offices  of  Jesus.  They  had  not 
made  up  their  own  minds  on  it.  It  was  a  mys 
tery  to  them,  and  they  let  it  remain  so." 

Mr.  William  Emerson  left,  published,  fifteen 
Sermons  and  Discourses,  an  Oration  pronounced 
at  Boston  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1802,  a  Col 
lection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  an  Historical 
Sketch  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  besides 
his  contributions  to  the  "  Monthly  Anthology," 
of  which  he  was  the  Editor. 

Ruth  Haskins,  the  wife  of  William  and  the 
mother  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  is  spoken  of 
by  the  late  Dr.  Frothingham,  in  an  article  in  the 
"  Christian  Examiner,"  as  a  woman  "  of  great 
patience  and  fortitude,  of  the  serenest  trust  in 
God,  of  a  discerning  spirit,  and  a  most  courte 
ous  bearing,  one  who  knew  how  to  guide  the 
affairs  of  her  own  house,  as  long  as  she  was  re 
sponsible  for  that,  with  the  sweetest  authority, 
and  knew  how  to  give  the  least  trouble  and  the 
greatest  happiness  after  that  authority  was  re 
signed.  Both  her  mind  and  her  character  were 
of  a  superior  order,  and  they  set  their  stamp 
upon  manners  of  peculiar  softness  and  natural 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

grace  and  quiet  dignity.  Her  sensible  and 
kindly  speech  was  always  as  good  as  the  best 
instruction;  her  smile,  though  it  was  ever  ready, 
was  a  reward." 

The  Reverend  Dr.  Furness  of  Philadelphia, 
who  grew  up  with  her  son,  says,  "  Waldo  bore  a 
strong  resemblance  to  his  father  ;  the  other  chil 
dren  resembled  their  mother." 

Such  was  the  descent  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emer 
son.  If  the  ideas  of  parents  survive  as  impres 
sions  or  tendencies  in  their  descendants,  no  man 
had  a  better  right  to  an  inheritance  of  theologi 
cal  instincts  than  this  representative  of  a  long 
line  of  ministers.  The  same  trains  of  thought 
and  feeling  might  naturally  gain  in  force  from 
another  association  of  near  family  relationship, 
though  not  of  blood.  After  the  death  of  the 
first  William  Emerson,  the  Concord  minister, 
his  widow,  Mr.  Emerson's  grandmother,  mar 
ried,  as  has  been  mentioned,  his  successor,  Dr. 
Ezra  Ripley.  The  grandson  spent  much  time  in 
the  family  of  Dr.  Ripley,  whose  character  he 
has  drawn  with  exquisite  felicity  in  a  sketch 
read  before  The  Social  Circle  of  Concord,  and 
published  in  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  for  No 
vember,  1883.  Mr.  Emerson  says  of  him : 
"  He  was  identified  with  the  ideas  and  forms  of 
the  New  England  Church,  which  expired  about 
the  same  time  with  him,  so  that  he  and  his 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

coevals  seemed  the  rear  guard  of  the  great  camp 
and  army  of  the  Puritans,  which,  however  in 
its  last  days  declining  into  formalism,  in  the- 
heyday  of  its  strength  had  planted  and  liber 
ated  America.  .  .  .  The  same  faith  made  what 
was  strong  and  what  was  weak  in  Dr.  Ripley." 
It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  more  perfect  sketch 
of  character  than  Mr.  Emerson's  living  picture 
of  Dr.  Ripley.  I.  myself  remember  him  as  a 
comely  little  old  gentleman,  but  he  was  not  so 
communicative  in  a  strange  household  as  his 
clerical  brethren,  smiling  John  Foster  of  Brigh 
ton  and  chatty  Jonathan  Homer  of  Newton. 
Mr.  Emerson  says,  "  He  was  a  natural  gentle 
man  ;  no  dandy,  but  courtly,  hospitable,  manly, 
and  public-spirited ;  his  nature  social,  his  house 
open  to  all  men.  —  His  brow  was  serene  and 
open  to  his  visitor,  for  he  loved  men,  and  he  had 
no  studies,  no  occupations,  which  company  could 
interrupt.  His  friends  were  his  study,  and  to 
see  them  loosened  his  talents  and  his  tongue. 
In  his  house  dwelt  order  and  prudence  and 
plenty.  There  was  no  waste  and  no  stint.  He 
was  open-handed  and  just  and  generous.  In 
gratitude  and  meanness  in  his  beneficiaries  did 
not  wear  out  his  compassion  ;  he  bore  the  insult, 
and  the  next  day  his  basket  for  the  beggar,  his 
horse  and  chaise  for  the  cripple,  were  at  their 
door."  How  like  Goldsmith's  good  Dr.  Prim- 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

rose  !  I  do  not  know  any  writing  of  Mr.  Emer 
son  which  brings  out  more  fully  his  sense  of 
humor,  —  of  the  picturesque  in  character,  — 
and  as  a  piece  of  composition,  continuous,  fluid, 
transparent,  with  a  playful  ripple  here  and 
there,  it  is  admirable  and  delightful. 

Another  of  his  early  companionships  must 
have  exercised  a  still  more  powerful  influence  on 
his  character,  —  that  of  his  aunt,  Mary  Moody 
Emerson.  He  gave  an  account  of  her  in  a  paper 
read  before  the  Woman's  Club  several  years  ago, 
and  published  in  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  for 
December,  1883.  Far  more  of  Mr.  Emerson  is 
to  be  found  in  this  aunt  of  his  than  in  any  other 
of  his  relations  in  the  ascending  series,  with 
whose  history  we  are  acquainted.  Her  story  is 
an  interesting  one,  but  for  that  I  must  refer  the 
reader  to  the  article  mentioned.  Her  character 
and  intellectual  traits  are  what  we  are  most  con 
cerned  with.  "  Her  early  reading  was  Milton, 
Young,  Akenside,  Samuel  Clarke,  Jonathan 
Edwards,  and  always  the  Bible.  Later,  Plato, 
Plotinus,  Marcus  Antoninus,  Stewart,  Cole 
ridge,  Herder,  Locke,  Madam  De  Stael,  Chan- 
ning,  Mackintosh,  Byron.  Nobody  can  read  in 
her  manuscript,  or  recall  the  conversation  of 
old-school  people,  without  seeing  that  Milton 
and  Young  had  a  religious  authority  in  their 
minds,  and  nowise  the  slight  merely  entertain- 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

ing  quality  of  modern  bards.  And  Plato,  Aris 
totle,  Plotinus,  —  how  venerable  and  organic  as 
Nature  they  are  in  her  rnind  !  " 

There  are  many  sentences  cited  by  Mr.  Emer 
son  which  remind  us  very  strongly  of  his  own 
writings.  Such  a  passage  as  the  following  might 
have  come  from  his  Essay,  "  Nature,"  but  it  was 
written  when  her  nephew  was  only  four  years 
old. 

"  Maiden,  1807,  September.  —  The  rapture  of  feel 
ing  I  would  part  from  for  days  devoted  to  higher 
discipline.  But  when  Nature  beams  with  such  excess 
of  beauty,  when  the  heart  thrills  with  hope  in  its  Au 
thor, —  feels  it  is  related  to  Him  more  than  by  any 
ties  of  creation,  —  it  exults,  too  fondly,  perhaps,  for 
a  state  of  trial.  But  in  dead  of  night,  nearer  morn 
ing,  when  the  eastern  stars  glow,  or  appear  to  glow, 
with  more  indescribable  lustre,  a  lustre  which  pene 
trates  the  spirits  with  wonder  and  curiosity,  —  then, 
however  awed,  who  can  fear  ?  "  —  "A  few  pulsa 
tions  of  created  beings,  a  few  successions  of  acts,  a 
few  lamps  held  out  in  the  firmament,  enable  us  to  talk 
of  Time,  make  epochs,  write  histories,  —  to  do  more, 
—  to  date  the  revelations  of  God  to  man.  But  these 
lamps  are  held  to  measure  out  some  of  the  moments 
of  eternity,  to  divide  the  history  of  God's  operations 
in  the  birth  and  death  of  nations,  of  worlds.  It  is  a 
goodly  name  for  our  notions  of  breathing,  suffering, 
enjoying,  acting.  We  personify  it.  We  call  it  by 
every  name  of  fleeting,  dreaming,  vaporing  imagery. 
2 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

Yet  it  is  nothing.  We  exist  in  eternity.  Dissolve 
the  body  and  the  night  is  gone  ;  the  stars  are  extin 
guished,  and  we  measure  duration  by  the  number  of 
our  thoughts,  by  the  activity  of  reason,  the  discovery 
of  truths,  the  acquirement  of  virtue,  the  approval  of 
God." 

Miss  Mary  Emerson  showed  something  of  the 
same  feeling  towards  natural  science  which  may 
be  noted  in  her  nephews  Waldo  and  Charles. 
After  speaking  of  "  the  poor  old  earth's  chaotic 
state,  brought  so  near  in  its  long  and  gloomy 
transmutings  by  the  geologist,"  she  says  :  — 

"  Yet  its  youthful  charms,  as  decked  by  the  hand 
of  Moses'  Cosmogony,  will  linger  about  the  heart, 
while  Poetry  succumbs  to  science."  —  "  And  the  bare 
bones  of  this  poor  embryo  earth  may  give  the  idea 
of  the  Infinite,  far,  far  better  than  when  dignified 
with  arts  and  industry ;  its  oceans,  when  beating  the 
symbols  of  countless  ages,  than  when  covered  with 
cargoes  of  war  and  oppression.  How  grand  its  prep 
aration  for  souls,  souls  who  were  to  feel  the  Divinity, 
before  Science  had  dissected  the  emotions  and  ap 
plied  its  steely  analysis  to  that  state  of  being  which 
recognizes  neither  psychology  nor  element."  —  Use 
fulness,  if  it  requires  action,  seems  less  like  existence 
than  the  desire  of  being  absorbed  in  God,  retaining 
consciousness.  .  .  .  Scorn  trifles,  lift  your  aims ;  do 
what  you  are  afraid  to  do.  Sublimity  of  character 
must  come  from  sublimity  of  motive." 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

So  far  as  hereditary  and  family  influences  can 
account  for  the  character  and  intellect  of  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson,  we  could  hardly  ask  for  a  bet 
ter  inborn  inheritance,  or  better  counsels  and 
examples. 

Having  traced  some  of  the  distinguishing  traits 
which  belong  by  descent  to  Mr.  Emerson  to  those 
who  were  before  him,  it  is  interesting  to  note  how 
far  they  showed  themselves  in  those  of  his  own 
generation,  his  brothers.  Of  these  I  will  men 
tion  two,  one  of  whom  I  knew  personally. 

Edward  Bliss  Emerson,  who  graduated  at 
Harvard  College  in  1824,  three  years  after 
Ralph  Waldo,  held  the  first  place  in  his  class. 
He  began  the  study  of  the  law  with  Daniel 
Webster,  but  overworked  himself  and  suffered 
a  temporary  disturbance  of  his  reason.  After 
this  he  made  another  attempt,  but  found  his 
health  unequal  to  the  task  and  exiled  himself  to 
Porto  Rico,  where,  in  1834,  he  died.  Two 
poems  preserve  his  memory,  one  that  of  Ralph 
Waldo,  in  which  he  addresses  his  memory,  — 

"  Ah,  brother  of  the  brief  but  blazing  star," 

the  other  his  own  "  Last  Farewell,"  written  in 
1832,  whilst  sailing  out  of  Boston  Harbor.  The 
lines  are  unaffected  and  very  touching,  full  of 
that  deep  affection  which  united  the  brothers  in 


20  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

the  closest  intimacy,  and  of  the  tenderest  love  for 
the  mother  whom  he  was  leaving  to  see  no  more. 

I  had  in  my  early  youth  a  key  furnished  me 
to  some  of  the  leading  traits  which  were  in  due 
time  to  develop  themselves  in  Emerson's  charac 
ter  and  intelligence.  As  on  the  wall  of  some 
great  artist's  studio  one  may  find  unfinished 
sketches  which  he  recognizes  as  the  first  growing 
conceptions  of  pictures  painted  in  after  years,  so 
we  see  that  Nature  often  sketches,  as  it  were,  a 
living  portrait,  which  she  leaves  in  its  rudiment 
ary  condition,  perhaps  for  the  reason  that  earth 
has  no  colors  which  can  worthily  fill  in  an  outline 
too  perfect  for  humanity.  The  sketch  is  left 
in  its  consummate  incompleteness  because  this 
mortal  life  is  not  rich  enough  to  carry  out  the 
Divine  idea. 

Such  an  unfinished  but  unmatched  outline  is 
that  which  I  find  in  the  long  portrait  -  gallery 
of  memory,  recalled  by  the  name  of  Charles 
Chauncy  Emerson.  Save  for  a  few  brief 
glimpses  of  another,  almost  lost  among  my  life's 
early  shadows,  this  youth  was  the  most  angelic 
adolescent  my  eyes  ever  beheld.  Remembering 
what  well-filtered  blood  it  was  that  ran  in  the 
veins  of  the  race  from  which  he  was  descended, 
those  who  knew  him  in  life  might  well  say  with 
Dryden,  — 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

"  If  by  traduction  came  thy  mind 
Our  wonder  is  the  less  to  find 
A  soul  so  charming  from  a  stock  so  good." 

His  image  is  with  me  in  its  immortal  youth  as 
when,  almost  fifty  years  ago,  I  spoke  of  him  in 
these  lines,  which  I  may  venture  to  quote  from 
myself,  since  others  have  quoted  them  before  me. 

Thou  calm,  chaste  scholar  !  I  can  see  thee  now, 

The  first  young  laurels  on  thy  pallid  brow, 

O'er  thy  slight  figure  floating  lightly  down 

In  graceful  folds  the  academic  gown, 

On  thy  curled  lip  the  classic  lines  that  taught 

How  nice  the  mind  that  sculptured  them  with  thought, 

And  triumph  glistening  in  the  clear  blue  eye, 

Too  bright  to  live,  —  but  O,  too  fair  to  die. 

Being  about  seven  years  younger  than  Waldo,  he 
must  have  received  much  of  his  intellectual  and 
moral  guidance  at  his  elder  brother's  hands.  I 
told  the  story  at  a  meeting  of  our  Historical 
Society  of  Charles  Emerson's  coming  into  my 
study,  —  this  was  probably  in  1826  or  1827,  — 
taking  up  Hazlitt's  "  British  Poets  "  and  turning 
at  once  to  a  poem  of  Mar  veil's,  which  he  read 
with  his  entrancing  voice  and  manner.  The 
influence  of  this  poet  is  plain  to  every  reader  in 
some  of  Emerson's  poems,  and  Charles'  liking 
for  him  was  very  probably  caught  from  Waldo. 
When  Charles  was  nearly  through  college,  a 
periodical  called  "The  Harvard  Register"  was 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

published  by  students  and  recent  graduates. 
Three  articles  were  contributed  by  him  to  this 
periodical.  Two  of  them  have  the  titles  "  Con 
versation,"  "  Friendship."  His  quotations  are 
from  Horace  and  Juvenal,  Plato,  Plutarch,  Ba 
con,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Shakespeare,  and  Scott. 
There  are  passages  in  these  Essays  which  remind 
one  strongly  of  his  brother,  the  Lecturer  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years  later.  Take  this  as 
an  example :  — 

"  Men  and  mind  are  my  studies.  I  need  no  ob 
servatory  high  in  air  to  aid  my  perceptions  or  enlarge 
my  prospect.  I  do  not  want  a  costly  apparatus  to 
give  pomp  to  my  pursuit  or  to  disguise  its  inutility.  I 
do  not  desire  to  travel  and  see  foreign  lands  and  learn 
all  knowledge  and  speak  with  all  tongues,  before  I 
am  prepared  for  my  employment.  I  have  merely  to 
go  out  of  my  door ;  nay,  I  may  stay  at  home  at  my 
chambers,  and  I  shall  have  enough  to  do  and  enjoy." 

The  feeling  of  this  sentence  shows  itself  con 
stantly  in  Emerson's  poems.  He  finds  his  in 
spiration  in  the  objects  about  him,  the  forest  in 
which  he  walks ;  the  sheet  of  water  which  the 
hermit  of  a  couple  of  seasons  made  famous  ;  the 
lazy  Musketaquid ;  the  titmouse  that  mocked  his 
weakness  in  the  bitter  cold  winter's  day  ;  the 
mountain  that  rose  in  the  horizon  ;  the  lofty 
pines ;  the  lowly  flowers.  All  talked  with  him 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

as  brothers  and  sisters,  and  he  with  them  as  of 
his  own  household. 

The  same  lofty  idea  of  friendship  which  we 
find  in  the  man  in  his  maturity,  we  recognize  in 
one  of  the  Essays  of  the  youth. 

"  All  men  of  gifted  intellect  and  fine  genius,"  says 
Charles  Emerson,  "  must  entertain  a  noble  idea  of 
friendship.  Our  reverence  we  are  constrained  to 
yield  where  it  is  due,  —  to  rank,  merit,  talents.  But 
our  affections  we  give  not  thus  easily. 

'  The  hand  of  Douglas  is  his  own.'  " 
—  "I  am  willing  to  lose  an  hour  in  gossip  with  per 
sons  whom  good  men  hold  cheap.  All  this  I  will  do 
out  of  regard  to  the  decent  conventions  of  polite  life. 
But  my  friends  I  must  know,  and,  knowing,  I  must 
love.  There  must  be  a  daily  beauty  in  their  life  that 
shall  secure  my  constant  attachment.  T  cannot  stand 
upon  the  footing  of  ordinary  acquaintance.  Friend 
ship  is  aristocratical  —  the  affections  which  are  pros 
tituted  to  every  suitor  I  will  not  accept." 

Here  are  glimpses  of  what  the  youth  was 
to  be,  of  what  the  man  who  long  outlived  him 
became.  Here  is  the  dignity  which  commands 
reverence,  —  a  dignity  which,  with  all  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson's  sweetness  of  manner  and  ex 
pression,  rose  almost  to  majesty  in  his  serene 
presence.  There  was  something  about  Charles 
Emerson  which  lifted  those  he  was  with  into 
a  lofty  and  pure  region  of  thought  and  feeling. 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

A  vulgar  soul  stood  abashed  in  his  presence.  I 
could  never  think  of  him  in  the  presence  of  such, 
listening  to  a  paltry  sentiment  or  witnessing  a 
mean  action  without  recalling  Milton's  line, 

"  Back  stepped  those  two  fair  angels 'half  amazed," 

and  thinking  how  he  might  well  have  been 
taken  for  a  celestial  messenger. 

No  doubt  there  is  something  of  idealization 
in  all  these  reminiscences,  and  of  that  exaggera 
tion  which  belongs  to  the  laudator  temporis  acti. 
But  Charles  Emerson  was  idolized  in  his  own 
time  by  many  in  college  and  out  of  college. 
George  Stillman  Hillard  was  his  rival.  Neck 
and  neck  they  ran  the  race  for  the  enviable  posi 
tion  of  first  scholar  in  the  class  of  1828,  and 
when  Hillard  was  announced  as  having  the  first 
part  assigned  to  him,  the  excitement  within  the 
college  walls,  and  to  some  extent  outside  of 
them,  was  like  that  when  the  telegraph  proclaims 
the  result  of  a  Presidential  election,  —  or  the 
Winner  of  the  Derby.  But  Hillard  honestly 
admired  his  brilliant  rival.  "Who  has  a  part 
with  *  *  *  *  at  this  next  exhibition  ?  "  I  asked 
him  one  day,  as  I  met  him  in  the  college  yard. 
"*****  the  Post,"  answered  Hillard.  "  Why 
call  him  the  Post  ?  "  said  I.  "  He  is  a  wooden 
creature,"  said  Hillard.  "  Hear  him  and  Charles 
Emerson  translating  from  the  Latin  Domus 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

tota  inflammata  erat.  The  Post  will  render  the 
words,  '  The  whole  house  was  on  fire.'  Charles 
Emerson  will  translate  the  sentence  'The  en 
tire  edifice  was  wrapped  in  flames.'  "  It  was 
natural  enough  that  a  young  admirer  should 
prefer  the  Bernini  drapery  of  Charles  Emerson's 
version  to  the  simple  nudity  of  "  the  Post's  " 
rendering. 

The  nest  is  made  ready  long  beforehand  for 
the  bird  which  is  to  be  bred  in  it  and  to  fly 
from  it.  The  intellectual  atmosphere  into  which 
a  scholar  is  born,  and  from  which  he  draws  the 
breath  of  his  early  mental  life,  must  be  stud 
ied  if  we  would  hope  to  understand  him  thor 
oughly. 

When  the  present  century  began,  the  ele 
ments,  thrown  into  confusion  by  the  long  strug 
gle  for  Independence,  had  not  had  time  to 
arrange  themselves  in  new  combinations.  The 
active  intellects  of  the  country  had  found  enough 
to  keep  them  busy  in  creating  and  organizing  a 
new  order  of  political  and  social  life.  What 
ever  purely  literary  talent  existed  was  as  yet  in 
the  nebular  condition,  a  diffused  luminous  spot 
here  and  there,  waiting  to  form  centres  of  con* 
densation. 

Such  a  nebular  spot  had  been  brightening  in 
and  about  Boston  for  a  number  of  years,  when, 


26  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

in  the  year  1804,  a  small  cluster  of  names  be 
came  visible  as  representing  a  modest  constella 
tion  of  literary  luminaries :  John  Thornton 
Kirkland,  afterwards  President  of  Harvard  Uni 
versity  ;  Joseph  Stevens  Buckminster  ;  John 
Sylvester  John  Gardiner ;  William  Tudor ;  Sam 
uel  Cooper  Thacher  ;  William  Emerson.  These 
were  the  chief  stars  of  the  new  cluster,  and  their 
light  reached  the  world,  or  a  small  part  of  it, 
as  reflected  from  the  pages  of  "The  Monthly 
Anthology,"  which  very  soon  came  under  the 
editorship  of  the  Reverend  William  Emerson. 

The  father  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  may 
be  judged  of  in  good  measure  by  the  associates 
with  whom  he  was  thus  connected.  A  brief 
sketch  of  these  friends  and  fellow-workers  of  his 
may  not  be  out  of  place,  for  these  men  made  the 
local  sphere  of  thought  into  which  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  was  born. 

John  Thornton  Kirkland  should  have  been 
seen  and  heard  as  he  is  remembered  by  old  grad 
uates  of  Harvard,  sitting  in  the  ancient  Presi 
dential  Chair,  on  Commencement  Day,  and  call 
ing  in  his  penetrating  but  musical  accents  :  "  Ex- 
pectatur  Oratio  in  Lingua  Latino, "  or  "  Ver- 
nacula"  if  the  "  First  Scholar "  was  about 
to  deliver  the  English  oration.  It  was  a  pres 
ence  not  to  be  forgotten.  His  "  shining  morn 
ing  face  "  was  round  as  a  baby's,  and  talked  as 


INTROD  UCTION.  27 

pleasantly  as  his  voice  did,  with  smiles  for  ac 
cents  and  dimples  for  punctuation.  Mr.  Tick- 
nor  speaks  of  his  sermons  as  "  full  of  intellectual 
wealth  and  practical  wisdom,  with  sometimes  a 
quaintness  that  bordered  on  humor."  It  was 
of  him  that  the  story  was  always  told,  —  it  may 
be  as  old  as  the  invention  of  printing,  —  that  he 
threw  his  sermons  into  a  barrel,  where  they  went 
to  pieces  and  got  mixed  up,  and  that  when  he 
was  going  to  preach  he  fished  out  what  he 
thought  would  be  about  enough  for  a  sermon,  and 
patched  the  leaves  together  as  he  best  might. 
The  Reverend  Dr.  Lowell  says :  "  He  always 
found  the  right  piece,  and  that  was  better  than 
almost  any  of  his  brethren  could  have  found  in 
what  they  had  written  with  twice  the  labor."  Mr. 
Cabot,  who  knew  all  Emerson's  literary  habits, 
says  he  used  to  fish  out  the  number  of  leaves  he 
wanted  for  a  lecture  in  somewhat  the  same  way. 
Emerson's  father,  however,  was  very  methodical, 
according  to  Dr.  Lowell,  and  had  "  a  place  for 
everything,  and  everything  in  its  place."  Dr. 
Kirkland  left  little  to  be  remembered  by,  and 
like  many  of  the  most  interesting  personalities 
we  have  met  with,  has  become  a  very  thin  ghost 
to  the  grandchildren  of  his  contemporaries. 

Joseph  Stevens  Buckminster  was  the  pulpit 
darling  of  his  day,  in  Boston.  The  beauty  of 
his  person,  the  perfection  of  his  oratory,  the 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

finish  of  his  style,  added  to  the  sweetness  of  his 
character,  made  him  one  of  those  living  idols 
which  seem  to  be  as  necessary  to  Protestantism 
as  images  and  pictures  are  to  Romanism. 

John  Sylvester  John  Gardiner,  once  a  pupil 
of  the  famous  Dr.  Parr,  was  then  the  leading 
Episcopal  clergyman  of  Boston.  Him  I  recon 
struct  from  scattered  hints  I  have  met  with  as  a 
scholarly,  social  man,  with  a  sanguine  tempera 
ment  and  the  cheerful  ways  of  a  wholesome 
English  parson,  blest  with  a  good  constitution 
and  a  comfortable  benefice.  Mild  Orthodoxy, 
ripened  in  Unitarian  sunshine,  is  a  very  agree 
able  aspect  of  Christianity,  and  none  was  read 
ier  than  Dr.  Gardiner,  if  the  voice  of  tradition 
may  be  trusted,  to  fraternize  with  his  brothers 
of  the  liberal  persuasion,  and  to  make  common 
cause  with  them  in  all  that  related  to  the  inter 
ests  of  learning. 

William  Tudor  was  a  chief  connecting  link 
between  the  period  of  the  "Monthly  Anthol 
ogy,"  and  that  of  the  "North  American  Re 
view,"  for  he  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the 
first  of  these  periodicals,  and  he  was  the  founder 
of  the  second.  Edward  Everett  characterizes 
him,  in  speaking  of  his  "  Letters  on  the  Eastern 
States,"  as  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman,  an  impar 
tial  observer,  a  temperate  champion,  a  liberal 
opponent,  and  a  correct  writer.  Daniel  Web- 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

ster  bore  similar  testimony  to  his  talents  and 
character. 

Samuel  Cooper  Thacher  was  hardly  twenty 
years  old  when  the  "  Anthology  "  was  founded, 
and  died  when  he  was  only  a  little  more  than 
thirty.  He  contributed  largely  to  that  period 
ical,  besides  publishing  various  controversial  ser 
mons,  and  writing  the  "  Memoir  of  Buckmin- 
ster." 

There  was  no  more  brilliant  circle  than  this  in 
any  of  our  cities.  There  was  none  where  so 
much  freedom  of  thought  was  united  to  so  much 
scholarship.  The  "  Anthology  "  was  the  liter 
ary  precursor  of  the  "  North  American  Review," 
and  the  theological  herald  of  the  "  Christian 
Examiner."  Like  all  first  beginnings  it  showed 
many  marks  of  immaturity.  It  mingled  extracts 
and  original  contributions,  theology  and  medi 
cine,  with  all  manner  of  literary  chips  and  shav 
ings.  It  had  Magazine  ways  that  smacked  of 
Sylvanus  Urban  ;  leading  articles  with  balanced 
paragraphs  which  recalled  the  marching  tramp 
of  Johnson  ;  translations  that  might  have  been 
signed  with  the  name  of  Creech,  and  Odes  to 
Sensibility,  and  the  like,  which  recalled  the 
syrupy  sweetness  and  languid  trickle  of  Laura 
Matilda's  sentimentalities.  It  talked  about  "  the 
London  Reviewers  "  with  a  kind  of  provincial 
deference.  It  printed  articles  with  quite  too 


30  INTRODUCTION. 

much  of  the  license  of  Swift  and  Prior  for 
the  Magazines  of  to-day.  But  it  had  opinions 
of  its  own,  and  would  compare  well  enough  with 
the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine,"  to  say  nothing 
of  "  My  Grandmother's  Review,  the  British." 
A  writer  in  the  third  volume  (1806)  says :  "  A 
taste  for  the  belles  lettres  is  rapidly  spreading 
in  our  country.  I  believe  that,  fifty  years  ago, 
England  had  never  seen  a  Miscellany  or  a 
Review  so  well  conducted  as  our  'Anthology,' 
however  superior  such  publications  may  now  be 
in  that  kingdom." 

It  is  well  worth  one's  while  to  look  over  the 
volumes  of  the  "Anthology"  to  see  what  our 
fathers  and  grandfathers  were  thinking  about, 
and  how  they  expressed  themselves.  The  stiff 
ness  of  Puritanism  was  pretty  well  relaxed  when 
a  Magazine  conducted  by  clergymen  could  say 
that  "  The  child,"  — meaning  the  new  periodical, 
—  "  shall  not  be  destitute  of  the  manners  of  a 
gentleman,  nor  a  stranger  to  genteel  amusements. 
He  shall  attend  Theatres,  Museums,  Balls,  and 
whatever  polite  diversions  the  town  shall  fur 
nish."  The  reader  of  the  "  Anthology "  will 
find  for  his  reward  an  improving  discourse  on 
"Ambition,"  and  a  commendable  schoolboy's 
"  theme "  on  "  Inebriation."  He  will  learn 
something  which  may  be  for  his  advantage  about 
the  "  Anjou  Cabbage,"  and  may  profit  by  a 


INTRODUCTION.  81 

"  Remedy  for  Asthma."  A  controversy  respect 
ing  the  merits  of  Sir  Richard  Blackmore  may 
prove  too  little  exciting  at  the  present  time,  and 
he  can  turn  for  relief  to  the  epistle  "  Studiosus  " 
addresses  to  "  Alcander."  If  the  lines  of  "  The 
Minstrel"  who  hails,  like  Longfellow  in  later 
years,  from  "The  District  of  Main,"  fail  to 
satisfy  him,  he  cannot  accuse  "  R.  T.  Paine,  Jr., 
Esq.,"  of  tameness  when  he  exclaims  :  — 

"  Rise  Columbia,  brave  and  free, 
Poise  the  globe  and  bound  the  sea  !  " 

But  the  writers  did  not  confine  themselves  to 
native  or  even  to  English  literature,  for  there  is 
a  distinct  mention  of  "  Mr.  Goethe's  new  novel," 
and  an  explicit  reference  to  "  Dante  Aligheri,  an 
Italian  bard."  But  let  the  smiling  reader  go  a 
little  farther  and  he  will  find  Mr.  Buckminster's 
most  interesting  account  of  the  destruction  of 
Goldau.  And  in  one  of  these  same  volumes 
he  will  find  the  article,  by  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow, 
doubtless,  which  was  the  first  hint  of  our  rural 
cemeteries,  and  foreshadowed  that  new  era  in 
our  underground  civilization  which  is  sweeten 
ing  our  atmospheric  existence. 

The  late  President  Josiah  Quincy,  in  his 
"  History  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum,"  pays  a 
high  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  and 'the 
labors  of  the  gentlemen  who  founded  that  insti 
tution  and  conducted  the  "Anthology."  A  lit- 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

erary  journal  had  already  been  published  in  Bos 
ton,  but  very  soon  failed  for  want  of  patronage. 
An  enterprising  firm  of  publishers,  "  being  desir 
ous  that  the  work  should  be  continued,  applied 
to  the  Reverend  William  Emerson,  a  clergy 
man  of  the  place,  distinguished  for  energy  and 
literary  taste ;  and  by  his  exertions  several  gen 
tlemen  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  conspicuous 
for  talent  and  zealous  for  literature,  were  in 
duced  to  engage  in  conducting  the  work,  and  for 
this  purpose  they  formed  themselves  into  a  Soci 
ety.  This  Society  was  not  completely  organized 
until  the  year  1805,  when  Dr.  Gardiner  was 
elected  President,  and  William  Emerson  Vice- 
President.  The  Society  thus  formed  maintained 
its  existence  with  reputation  for  about  six  years, 
and  issued  ten  octavo  volumes  from  the  press, 
constituting  one  of  the  most  lasting  and  honor 
able  monuments  of  the  literature  of  the  period, 
and  may  be  considered  as  a  true  revival  of  po 
lite  learning  in  this  country  after  that  decay  and. 
neglect  which  resulted  from  the  distractions  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  as  forming  an  epoch 
in  the  intellectual  history  of  the  United  States. 
Its  records  yet  remain,  an  evidence  that  it  was  a 
pleasant,  active,  high-principled  association  of 
literary  men,  laboring  harmoniously  to  elevate 
the  literary  standard  of  the  time,  and  with  a 
success  which  may  well  be  regarded  as  remark- 


INTRODUCTION.  83 

able,  considering  the  little  sympathy  they  re 
ceived  from  the  community,  and  the  many  diffi 
culties  with  which  they  had  to  struggle." 

The  publication  of  the  "  Anthology "  began 
in  1804,  when  Mr.  William  Emerson  was  thirty- 
four  years  of  age,  and  it  ceased  to  be  published 
in  the  year  of  his  death,  1811.  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  was  eight  years  old  at  that  time.  His 
intellectual  life  began,  we  may  say,  while  the 
somewhat  obscure  afterglow  of  the  "Anthol 
ogy"  was  in  the  western  horizon  of  the  New 
England  sky. 

The  nebula  which  was  to  form  a  cluster  about 
the  "North  American  Review"  did  not  take 
definite  shape  until  1815.  There  is  no  such 
memorial  of  the  growth  of  American  literature 
as  is  to  be  found  in  the  first  half  century  of  that 
periodical.  It  is  easy  to  find  fault  with  it  for 
uniform  respectability  and  occasional  dulness. 
But  take  the  names  of  its  contributors  during  its 
first  fifty  years  from  the  literary  record  of  that 
period,  and  we  should  have  but  a  meagre  list  of 
mediocrities,  saved  from  absolute  poverty  by  the 
genius  of  two  or  three  writers  like  Irving  and 
Cooper.  Strike  out  the  names  of  Webster,  Ev 
erett,  Story,  Sumner,  and  Gushing ;  of  Bryant, 
Dana,  Longfellow,  and  Lowell ;  of  Prescott, 
Ticknor,  Motley,  Sparks,  and  Bancroft ;  of  Ver- 
planck,  Hillard,  and  Whipple ;  of  Stuart  and 


34  INTRODUCTION. 

Robinson ;  of  Norton,  Palfrey,  Peabody,  and 
Bowen;  and,  lastly,  that  of  Emerson  himself, 
and  how  much  American  classic  literature  would 
be  left  for  a  new  edition  of  "Miller's  Retro 
spect"? 

These  were  the  writers  who  helped  to  make 
the  "  North  American  Review "  what  it  was 
during  the  period  of  Emerson's  youth  and  early 
manhood.  These,  and  men  like  them,  gave  Bos 
ton  its  intellectual  character.  We  may  count 
as  symbols  the  three  hills  of  "  this  darling  town 
of  ours,"  as  Emerson  called  it,  and  say  that  each 
had  its  beacon.  Civil  liberty  lighted  the  torch 
on  one  summit,  religious  freedom  caught  the 
flame  and  shone  from  the  second,  and  the  lamp 
of  the  scholar  has  burned  steadily  on  the  third 
from  the  days  when  John  Cotton  preached  his 
first  sermon  to  those  in  which  we  are  living. 

The  social  religious  influences  of  the  first  part 
of  the  century  must  not  be  forgotten.  The  two 
high -caste  religions  of  that  day  were  white- 
handed  Unitarianism  and  ruffled-shirt  Episco- 
palianism.  What  called  itself  "  society "  was 
chiefly  distributed  between  them.  Within  less 
than  fifty  years  a  social  revolution  has  taken 
place  which  has  somewhat  changed  the  relation 
between  these  and  other  worshipping  bodies. 
This  movement  is  the  general  withdrawal  of 
the  native  New  Englanders  of  both  sexes  from 


INTRODUCTION.  35 

domestic  service.  A  large  part  of  the  "hired 
help,"  —  for  the  word  servant  was  commonly  re 
pudiated,  — worshipped,  not  with  their  employers, 
but  at  churches  where  few  or  no  well-appointed 
carriages  stood  at  the  doors.  The  congregations 
that  went  chiefly  from  the  drawing-room  and 
those  which  were  largely  made  up  of  dwellers  in 
the  culinary  studio  were  naturally  separated  by 
a  very  distinct  line  of  social  cleavage.  A  cer 
tain  exclusiveness  and  fastidiousness,  not  remind 
ing  us  exactly  of  primitive  Christianity,  was  the 
inevitable  result.  This  must  always  be  remem 
bered  in  judging  the  men  and  women  of  that 
day  and  their  immediate  descendants,  as  much 
as  the  surviving  prejudices  of  those  whose  par 
ents  were  born  subjects  of  King  George  in  the 
days  when  loyalty  to  the  crown  was  a  virtue. 
The  line  of  social  separation  was  more  marked, 
probably,  in  Boston,  the  headquarters  of  Unita- 
rianism,  than  in  the  other  large  cities ;  and  even 
at  the  present  day  our  Jerusalem  and  Samaria, 
though  they  by  no  means  refuse  dealing  with 
each  other,  do  not  exchange  so  many  cards  as 
they  do  checks  and  dollars.  The  exodus  of  those 
children  of  Israel  from  the  house  of  bondage,  as 
they  chose  to  consider  it,  and  their  fusion  with 
the  mass  of  independent  citizens,  got  rid  of  a 
class  distinction  which  was  felt  even  in  the  sanc 
tuary.  True  religious  equality  is  harder  to  es- 


36  INTRODUCTION. 

tablish  than  civil  liberty.  No  man  has  done 
more  for  spiritual  republicanism  than  Emerson, 
though  he  came  from  the  daintiest  sectarian  cir 
cle  of  the  time  in  the  whole  country. 

Such  were  Emerson's  intellectual  and  moral 
parentage,  nurture,  and  environment ;  such  was 
the  atmosphere  in  which  he  grew  up  from  youth 
to  manhood. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Birthplace.  —  Boyhood.  —  College  Life. 
1803-1823.    To  JET.  20. 

BALPH  WALDO  EMERSON  was  born  in  Bos 
ton,  Massachusetts,  on  the  25th  of  May,  1803. 

He  was  the  second  of  five  sons ;  William,  R. 
W.,  Edward  Bliss,  Robert  Bulkeley,  and  Charles 
Chauncy. 

His  birthplace  and  that  of  our  other  illustri 
ous  Bostonian,  Benjamin  Franklin,  were  within 
a  kite-string's  distance  of  each  other.  When  the 
baby  philosopher  of  the  last  century  was  carried 
from  Milk  Street  through  the  narrow  passage 
long  known  as  Bishop's  Alley,  now  Hawley 
Street,  he  came  out  in  Summer  Street,  very 
nearly  opposite  the  spot  where,  at  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  stood  the  parsonage  of  the  First 
Church,  the  home  of  the  Reverend  William  Em 
erson,  its  pastor,  and  the  birthplace  of  his  son, 
Ralph  Waldo.  The  oblong  quadrangle  between 
Newbury,  now  Washington  Street,  Pond,  now 
-  Bedford  Street,  Summer  Street,  and  the  open 
space  called  Church  Green,  where  the  New 


38  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

South  Church  was  afterwards  erected,  is  repre 
sented  on  Bonner's  maps  of  1722  and  1769  as 
an  almost  blank  area,  not  crossed  or  penetrated 
by  a  single  passageway. 

Even  so  late  as  less  than  half  a  century  ago 
this  region  was  still  a  most  attractive  little  rus 
in  urbe.  The  sunny  gardens  of  the  late  Judge 
Charles  Jackson  and  the  late  Mr.  S.  P.  Gard 
ner  opened  their  flowers  and  ripened  their  fruits 
in  the  places  now  occupied  by  great  warehouses 
and  other  massive  edifices.  The  most  aristo 
cratic  pears,  the  "  Saint  Michael,"  the  "  Brown 
Bury,"  found  their  natural  homes  in  these  shel 
tered  enclosures.  The  fine  old  mansion  of  Judge 
William  Prescott  looked  out  upon  these  gardens. 
Some  of  us  can  well  remember  the  window  of 
his  son's,  the  historian's,  study,  the  light  from 
which  used  every  evening  to  glimmer  through 
the  leaves  of  the  pear-trees  while  "The  Con 
quest  of  Mexico "  was  achieving  itself  under 
difficulties  hardly  less  formidable  than  those  en 
countered  by  Cortes.  It  was  a  charmed  region 
in  which  Emerson  first  drew  his  breath,  and  I 
am  fortunate  in  having  a  communication  from 
one  who  knew  it  and  him  longer  than  almost 
any  other  living  person. 

Mr.  John  Lowell  Gardner,  a  college  classmate 
and  life-long  friend  of  Mr.  Emerson,  has  favored 
me  with  a  letter  which  contains  matters  of  inter- 


BOYHOOD.  89 

est  concerning  him  never  before  given  to  the 
public.  With  his  kind  permission  I  have  made 
some  extracts  and  borrowed  such  facts  as  seemed 
especially  worthy  of  note  from  his  letter. 

"  I  may  be  said  to  have  known  Emerson  from  the 
very  beginning.  A  very  low  fence  divided  my  fa 
ther's  estate  in  Summer  Street  from  the  field  in  which 
I  remember  the  old  wooden  parsonage  to  have  ex 
isted,  —  but  this  field,  when  we  were  very  young,  was 
to  be  covered  by  Chauncy  Place  Church  and  by  the 
brick  houses  on  Summer  Street.  Where  the  family 
removed  to  I  do  not  remember,  but  I  always  knew 
the  boys,  William,  Ralph,  and  perhaps  Edward,  and 
I  again  associated  with  Ralph  at  the  Latin  School, 
where  we  were  instructed  by  Master  Gould  from 
1815  to  1817,  entering  College  in  the  latter  year. 

...  I  have  no  recollection  of  his  relative  rank  as 
a  scholar,  but  it  was  undoubtedly  high,  though  not  the 
highest.  He  never  was  idle  or  a  lounger,  nor  did  he 
ever  engage  in  frivolous  pursuits.  I  should  say  that 
his  conduct  was  absolutely  faultless.  It  was  impos 
sible  that  there  should  be  any  feeling  about  him  but 
of  regard  and  affection.  He  had  then  the  same  man 
ner  and  courtly  hesitation  in  addressing  you  that  you 
have  known  in  him  since.  Still,  he  was  not  prom 
inent  in  the  class,  and,  but  for  what  all  the  world  has 
since  known  of  him,  his  would  not  have  been  a  con 
spicuous  figure  to  his  classmates  in  recalling  College 
days. 

"  The   fact   that  we  were  almost  the  only  Latin 


40  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

School  fellows  in  the  class,  and  the  circumstance  that 
he  was  slow  during  the  Freshman  year  to  form  new 
acquaintances,  brought  us  much  together,  and  an 
intimacy  arose  which  continued  through  our  College 
life.  We  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  long  strolls  to 
gether,  often  stopping  for  repose  at  distant  points,  as 
at  Mount  Auburn,  etc.  .  .  .  Emerson  was  not  talk 
ative  ;  he  never  spoke  for  effect ;  his  utterances  were 
well  weighed  and  very  deliberately  made,  but  there 
was  a  certain  flash  when  lie  uttered  anything  that 
was  more  than  usually  worthy  to  be  remembered. 
He  was  so  universally  amiable  and  complying  that 
my  evil  spirit  would  sometimes  instigate  me  to  take 
advantage  of  his  gentleness  and  forbearance,  but 
nothing  could  disturb  his  equanimity.  All  that  was 
wanting  to  render  him  an  almost  perfect  character 
was  a  few  harsher  traits  and  perhaps  more  masculine 
vigor. 

"  On  leaving  College  our  paths  in  life  were  so  re 
mote  from  each  other  that  we  met  very  infrequently. 
He  soon  became,  as  it  were,  public  property,  and  I  was 
engrossed  for  many  years  in  my  commercial  under 
takings.  All  his  course  of  life  is  known  to  many  sur 
vivors.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  he  had  a  most  liberal 
spirit.  I  remember  that  some  years  since,  when  it  was 

known  that  our  classmate was  reduced  almost 

to  absolute  want  by  the  war,  in  which  he  lost  his  two 
sons,  Emerson  exerted  himself  to  raise  a  fund  among 
his  classmates  for  his  relief,  and,  there  being  very  few 
possible  subscribers,  made  what  I  considered  a  noble 
contribution,  and  this  you  may  be  sure  was  not  from 


BOYHOOD.  41 

any  Southern  sentiment  on  the  part  of  Emerson.  I 
send  you  herewith  the  two  youthful  productions  of 
Emerson  of  which  I  spoke  to  you  some  time  since." 

The  first  of  these  is  a  prose  Essay  of  four 
pages,  written  for  a  discussion  in  which  the  Pro 
fessions  of  Divinity,  Medicine,  and  Law  were  to 
be  weighed  against  each  other.  Emerson  had 
the  Lawyer's  side  to  advocate.  It  is  a  fair  and 
sensible  paper,  not  of  special  originality  or  bril 
liancy.  His  opening  paragraph  is  worth  citing, 
as  showing  the  same  instinct  for  truth  which  dis 
played  itself  in  all  his  after  writings  and  the 
conduct  of  his  life. 

"  It  is  usual  in  advocating  a  favorite  subject  to 
appropriate  all  possible  excellence,  and  endeavor  to 
concentrate  every  doubtful  auxiliary,  that  we  may 
fortify  to  the  utmost  the  theme  of  our  attention. 
Such  a  design  should  be  utterly  disdained,  except  as 
far  as  is  consistent  with  fairness ;  and  the  sophistry 
of  weak  arguments  being  abandoned,  a  bold  appeal 
should  be  made  to  the  heart,  for  the  tribute  of  honest 
conviction,  with  regard  to  the  merits  of  the  subject." 

From  many  boys  this  might  sound  like  well- 
meaning  commonplace,  but  in  the  history  of  Mr. 
Emerson's  life  that  "  bold  appeal  to  the  heart," 
that  "  tribute  of  honest  conviction,"  were  made 
eloquent  and  real.  The  boy  meant  it  when  he 
said  it.  To  carry  out  his  law  of  sincerity  and 


42  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

self -trust  the  man  had  to  sacrifice  much  that  was 
dear  to  him,  but  he  did  not  flinch  from  his  early 
principles. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  blameless 
youth  was  an  ascetic  in  his  College  days.  The 
other  old  manuscript  Mr.  Gardner  sends  me  is 
marked  "  '  Song  for  Knights  of  Square  Table,' 
K.  W.  E." 

There  are  twelve  verses  of  this  song,  with  a 
chorus  of  two  lines.  The  Muses  and  all  the 
deities,  not  forgetting  Bacchus,  were  duly  invited 
to  the  festival. 

"  Let  the  doors  of  Olympus  be  open  for  all 
To  descend  and  make  merry  in  Chivalry's  hall." 

Mr.  Sanborn  has  kindly  related  to  me  several 
circumstances  told  him  by  Emerson  about  his 
early  years. 

The  parsonage  was  situated  at  the  corner  of 
Summer  and  what  is  now  Chauncy  streets.  It 
had  a  yard,  and  an  orchard  which  Emerson  said 
was  as  large  as  Dr.  Kipley's,  which  might  have 
been  some  two  or  three  acres.  Afterwards  there 
was  a  brick  house  looking  on  Summer  Street,  in 
which  Emerson  the  father  lived.  It  was  sep 
arated,  Emerson  said,  by  a  brick  wall  from  a 
garden  in  which  pears  grew  (a  fact  a  boy  is 
likely  to  remember).  Master  Ralph  Waldo  used 
to  sit  on  this  wall,  —  but  we  cannot  believe  he 


BO  YHOOD.  43 

ever  got  off  it  on  the  wrong  side,  unless  politely 
asked  to  do  so.  On  the  occasion  of  some  alarm 
the  little  boy  was  carried  in  his  nightgown  to  a 
neighboring  house. 

After  Reverend  William  Emerson's  death 
Mrs.  Emerson  removed  to  a  house  in  Beacon 
Street,  where  the  Athenaeum  Building  now 
stands.  She  kept  some  boarders,  —  among  them 
Lemuel  Shaw,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts.  It  was  but  a  short  dis 
tance  to  the  Common,  and  Waldo  and  Charles 
used  to  drive  their  mother's  cow  there  to  pasture. 

The  Reverend  Doctor  Rufus  Ellis,  the  much 
respected  living  successor  of  William  Emerson 
as  Minister  of  the  First  Church,  says  that  R.  W. 
Emerson  must  have  been  born  in  the  old  par 
sonage,  as  his  father  (who  died  when  he  was 
eight  years  old)  lived  but  a  very  short  time  in 
"  the  new  parsonage,"  which  was,  doubtless,  the 
"  brick  house  "  above  referred  to. 

We  get  a  few  glimpses  of  the  boy  from  other 
sources.  Mr.  Cooke  tells  us  that  he  entered  the 
public  grammar  school  at  the  age  of  eight  years, 
and  soon  afterwards  the  Latin  School.  At  the 
age  of  eleven  he  was  turning  Virgil  into  very 
readable  English  heroics.  He  loved  the  study  of 


44  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

Greek ;  was  fond  of  reading  history  and  given 
to  the  frequent  writing  of  verses.  But  he  thinks 
"  the  idle  books  under  the  bench  at  the  Latin 
School "  were  as  profitable  to  him  as  his  regular 
studies. 

Another  glimpse  of  him  is  that  given  us  by 
Mr.  Ireland  from  the  "  Boyhood  Memories  "  of 
Rufus  Dawes.  His  old  schoolmate  speaks  of 
him  as  "a  spiritual-looking  boy  in  blue  nankeen, 
who  seems  to  be  about  ten  years  old,  —  whose 
image  more  than  any  other  is  still  deeply  stamped 
upon  my  mind,  as  I  then  saw  him  and  loved 
him,  I  knew  not  why,  and  thought  him  so  an 
gelic  and  remarkable."  That  "  blue  nankeen  " 
sounds  strangely,  it  may  be,  to  the  readers  of  this 
later  generation,  but  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
century  blue  and  yellow  or  buff-colored  cotton 
from  China  were  a  common  summer  clothing  of 
children.  The  places  where  the  factories  and 
streets  of  the  cities  of  Lowell  and  Lawrence 
were  to  rise  were  then  open  fields  and  farms. 
My  recollection  is  that  we  did  not  think  very 
highly  of  ourselves  when  we  were  in  blue  nan 
keen, —  a  dull-colored  fabric,  too  nearly  of  the 
complexion  of  the  slates  on  which  we  did  our 
ciphering. 

Emerson  was  not  particularly  distinguished 
in  College.  Having  a  near  connection  in  the 


COLLEGE  LIFE.  45 

same  class  as  he,  and  being,  as  a  Cambridge  boy, 
generally  familiar  with  the  names  of  the  more 
noted  young  men  in  College  from  the  year  when 
George  Bancroft,  Caleb  Gushing,  and  Francis 
William  Winthrop  graduated  until  after  I  my 
self  left  College,  I  might  have  expected  to  hear 
something  of  a  young  man  who  afterwards  be 
came  one  of  the  great  writers  of  his  time.  I  do 
not  recollect  hearing  of  him  except  as  keeping 
school  for  a  short  time  in  Cambridge,  before  he 
settled  as  a  minister.  His  classmate,  Mr.  Josiah 
Quincy,  writes  thus  of  his  college  days :  — 

"  Two  only  of  my  classmates  can  be  fairly  said  to 
have  got  into  history,  although  one  of  them,  Charles 
W.  Upham  [the  connection  of  mine  referred  to  above] 
has  written  history  very  acceptably.  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  and  Robert  W.  Barnwell,  for  widely  different 
reasons,  have  caused  their  names  to  be  known  to  well- 
informed  Americans.  Of  Emerson,  I  regret  to  say, 
there  are  few  notices  in  my  journals.  Here  is  the 
sort  of  way  in  which  I  speak  of  the  man  who  was  to 
make  so  profound  an  impression  upon  the  thought  of 
his  time.  '  I  went  to  the  chapel  to  hear  Emerson's 
dissertation  :  a  very  good  one,  but  rather  too  long  to 
give  much  pleasure  to  the  hearers.'  The  fault,  I  sus 
pect,  was  in  the  hearers ;  and  another  fact  which  I 
have  mentioned  goes  to  confirm  this  belief.  It  seems 
that  Emerson  accepted  the  duty  of  delivering  the 
Poem  on  Class  Day,  after  seven  others  had  been 


46  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

asked  who  positively  refused.  So  it  appears  that,  in 
the  opinion  of  this  critical  class,  the  author  of  the 
'  Woodnotes  '  and  the  '  Humble  Bee  '  ranked  about 
eighth  in  poetical  ability.  It  can  only  be  because  the 
works  of  the  other  five  [seven]  have  been  '  heroically 
unwritten '  that  a  different  impression  has  come  to 
prevail  in  the  outside  world.  But  if,  according  to  the 
measurement  of  undergraduates,  Emerson's  ability  as 
a  poet  was  not  conspicuous,  it  must  also  be  admitted 
that,  in  the  judgment  of  persons  old  enough  to  know 
better,  he  was  not  credited  with  that  mastery  of 
weijhty  prose  which  the  world  has  since  accorded 
him.  In  our  senior  year  the  higher  classes  competed 
for  the  Boylston  prizes  for  English  composition.  Em 
erson  and  I  sent  in  our  essays  with  the  rest  and  were 
fortunate  enough  to  take  the  two  prizes  ;  but  —  Alas 
for  the  infallibility  of  academic  decisions  !  Emerson 
received  the  second  prize.  I  was  of  course  much 
pleased  with  the  award  of  this  intelligent  committee, 
and  should  have  been  still  more  gratified  had  they 
mentioned  that  the  man  who  was  to  be  the  most  orig 
inal  and  influential  writer  born  in  America  was  my  un 
successful  competitor.  But  Emerson,  incubating  over 
deeper  matters  than  were  dreamt  of  in  the  established 
philosophy  of  elegant  letters,  seems  to  have  given  no 
sign  of  the  power  that  was  fashioning  itself  for  lead 
ership  in  a  new  time.  He  was  quiet,  unobtrusive,  and 
only  a  fair  scholar  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
College  authorities.  And  this  is  really  all  I  have  to 
Bay  about  my  most  distinguished  classmate." 


COLLEGE  LIFE.  47 

Barnwell,  the  first  scholar  in  the  class,  deliv 
ered  the  Valedictory  Oration,  and  Emerson  the 
Poem.  Neither  of  these  performances  was  highly 
spoken  of  by  Mr.  Quincy. 

I  was  surprised  to  find  by  one  of  the  old  Cata 
logues  that  Emerson  roomed  during  a  part  of  his 
College  course  with  a  young  man  whom  I  well 
remember,  J.  G.  K.  Gourdin.  The  two  Gour- 
dins,  Robert  and  John  Gaillard  Keith,  were 
dashing  young  fellows  as  I  recollect  them,  be 
longing  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  The 
"  Southerners  "  were  the  reigning  College  ele- 
gans  of  that  time,  the  merveilleux,  the  mirli- 
flores,  of  their  day.  Their  swallow-tail  coats 
tapered  to  an  arrow-point  angle,  and  the  prints 
of  their  little  delicate  calfskin  boots  in  the  snow 
were  objects  of  great  admiration  to  the  village 
boys  of  the  period.  I  cannot  help  wondering 
what  brought  Emerson  and  the  showy,  fascinat 
ing  John  Gourdin  together  as  room-mates. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1823-1828.    ^T.  20-25. 


Extract  from  a  Letter  to  a  Classmate.  —  School-Teaching.  — 
Study  of  Divinity.  —  "  Approbated  "  to  Preach.  —  Visit  to 
the  South.  —  Preaching  in  Various  Places. 

WE  get  a  few  brief  glimpses  of  Emerson 
during  the  years  following  his  graduation.  He 
writes  in  1823  to  a  classmate  who  had  gone  from 
Harvard  to  Andover  :  — 

"  I  am  delighted  to  hear  there  is  such  a  profound 
studying  of  German  and  Hebrew,  Parkhurst  and 
Jahn,  and  such  other  names  as  the  memory  aches  to 
think  of,  on  foot  at  Andover.  Meantime,  Unitarian- 
ism  will  not  hide  her  honors  ;  as  many  hard  names 
are  taken,  and  as  much  theological  mischief  is  planned, 
at  Cambridge  as  at  Andover.  By  the  time  this  gen 
eration  gets  upon  the  stage,  if  the  controversy  will 
not  have  ceased,  it  will  run  such  a  tide  that  we  shall 
hardly  he  able  to  speak  to  one  another,  and  there 
will  be  a  Guelf  and  Ghibelline  quarrel,  which  cannot 
tell  where  the  differences  lie." 

"  You  can  form  no  conception  how  much  one  grov 
elling  in  the  city  needs  the  excitement  and  impulse  of 
literary  example.  The  sight  of  broad  vellum-bound 


SCHOOL  KEEPING.  49 

quartos,  the  very  mention  of  Greek  and  German 
names,  the  glimpse  of  a  dusty,  tugging  scholar,  will 
wake  you  up  to  emulation  for  a  month." 

After  leaving  College,  and  while  studying 
Divinity,  Emerson  employed  a  part  of  his  time 
in  giving  instruction  in  several  places  succes 
sively. 

Emerson's  older  brother  William  was  teaching 
in  Boston,  and  Ralph  Waldo,  after  graduating, 
joined  him  in  that  occupation.  In  the  year  1825 
or  1826,  he  taught  school  also  in  Chelmsford, 
a  town  of  Middlesex  County,  Massachusetts,  a 
part  of  which  helped  to  constitute  the  city  of 
Lowell.  One  of  his  pupils  in  that  school,  the 
Honorable  Josiah  Gardiner  Abbott,  has  favored 
me  with  the  following  account  of  his  recollec 
tions  :  — 

The  school  of  which  Mr.  Emerson  had  the 
charge  was  an  old-fashioned  country  "  Acad 
emy."  Mr.  Emerson  was  probably  studying  for 
the  ministry  while  teaching  there.  Judge  Ab 
bott  remembers  the  impression  he  made  on  the 
boys.  He  was  very  grave,  quiet,  and  very  im 
pressive  in  his  appearance.  There  was  some 
thing  engaging,  almost  fascinating,  about  him ; 
he  was  never  harsh  or  severe,  always  perfectly 
self -controlled,  never  punished  except  with  words, 
but  exercised  complete  command  over  the  boys. 
His  old  pupil  recalls  the  stately,  measured  way 

4 


50  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

in  which,  for  some  offence  the  little  boy  had 
committed,  he  turned  on  him,  saying  only  these 
two  words :  "  Oh,  sad  !  "  That  was  enough,  for 
he  had  the  faculty  of  making  the  boys  love  him. 
One  of  his  modes  of  instruction  was  to  give  the 
boys  a  piece  of  reading  to  carry  home  with  them, 
—  from  some  book  like  Plutarch's  Lives,  —  and 
the  next  day  to  examine  them  and  find  out  how 
much  they  retained  from  their  reading.  Judge 
Abbott  remembers  a  peculiar  look  in  his  eyes, 
as  if  he  saw  something  beyond  what  seemed  to 
be  in  the  field  of  vision.  The  whole  impression 
left  on  this  pupil's  mind  was  such  as  no  other 
teacher  had  ever  produced  upon  him. 

Mr.  Emerson  also  kept  a  school  for  a  short 
time  at  Cambridge,  and  among  his  pupils  was 
Mr.  John  Holmes.  His  impressions  seem  to  be 
very  much  like  those  of  Judge  Abbott. 

My  brother  speaks  of  Mr.  Emerson  thus  :  — 

"  Calm,  as  not  doubting  the  virtue  residing  in  his 
sceptre.  Rather  stern  in  his  very  infrequent  rebukes. 
Not  inclined  to  win  boys  by  a  surface  amiability,  but 
kindly  in  explanation  or  advice.  Every  inch  a  king 
in  his  dominion.  Looking  back,  he  seems  to  me 
rather  like  a  captive  philosopher  set  to  tending  flocks  ; 
resigned  to  his  destiny,  but  not  amused  with  its  incon 
gruities.  He  once  recommended  the  use  of  rhyme  as 
a  cohesive  for  historical  items." 

In  1823,  two  years  after  graduating,  Emerson 


"OLD-FASHIONED   UNITARIANISM."          51 

began  studying  for  the  ministry.  He  studied 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Channing,  attending 
some  of  the  lectures  in  the  Divinity  School  at 
Cambridge,  though  not  enrolled  as  one  of  its 
regular  students. 

The  teachings  of  that  day  were  such  as  would 
now  be  called  "old-fashioned  Unitarianism." 
But  no  creed  can  be  held  to  be  a  finality.  From 
Edwards  to  Mayhew,  from  Mayhew  to  Channing, 
from  Channing  to  Emerson,  the  passage  is  like 
that  which  leads  from  the  highest  lock  of  a  canal 
to  the  ocean  level.  It  is  impossible  for  human 
nature  to  remain  permanently  shut  up  in  the 
highest  lock  of  Calvinism.  If  the  gates  are  not 
opened,  the  mere  leakage  of  belief  or  unbelief 
will  before  long  fill  the  next  compartment,  and 
the  freight  of  doctrine  finds  itself  on  the  lower 
level  of  Armimanism,  or  Pelagianism,  or  even 
subsides  to  Arianism.  From  this  level  to  that 
of  Unitarianism  the  outlet  is  freer,  and  the  sub 
sidence  more  rapid.  And  from  Unitarianism  to 
Christian  Theism,  the  passage  is  largely  open 
for  such  as  cannot  accept  the  evidence  of  the 
supernatural  in  the  history  of  the  church. 

There  were  many  shades  of  belief  in  the  lib 
eral  churches.  If  De  Tocqueville's  account  of 
Unitarian  preaching  in  Boston  at  the  time  of 
his  visit  is  true,  the  Savoyard  Vicar  of  Rousseau 
would  have  preached  acceptably  in  some  of  our 


52  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

pulpits.  In  fact,  the  good  Vicar  might  have 
been  thought  too  conservative  by  some  of  our 
unharnessed  theologians. 

At  the  period  when  Emerson  reached  man 
hood,  Unitarianism  was  the  dominating  form  of 
belief  in  the  more  highly  educated  classes  of  both 
of  the  two  great  New  England  centres,  the  town 
of  Boston  and  the  University  at  Cambridge. 
President  Kirkland  was  at  the  head  of  the  Col 
lege,  Henry  Ware  was  Professor  of  Theology, 
Andrews  Norton  of  Sacred  Literature,  followed 
in  1830  by  John  Gorham  Palfrey  in  the  same 
office.  James  Freeman,  Charles  Lowell,  and 
William  Ellery  Channing  were  preaching  in 
Boston.  I  have  mentioned  already  as  a  simple 
fact  of  local  history,  that  the  more  exclusive 
social  circles  of  Boston  and  Cambridge  were 
chiefly  connected  with  the  Unitarian  or  Episco 
palian  churches.  A  Cambridge  graduate  of  am 
bition  and  ability  found  an  opening  far  from 
undesirable  in  a  worldly  point  of  view,  in  a  pro 
fession  which  he  was  led  to  choose  by  higher 
motives.  It  was  in  the  Unitarian  pulpit  that 
the  brilliant  talents  of  Buckminster  and  Everett 
had  found  a  noble  eminence  from  which  their 
light  could  shine  before  men. 

Descended  from  a  long  line  of  ministers,  a 
man  of  spiritual  nature,  a  reader  of  Plato,  of 
Augustine,  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  full  of  hope  for 


" APPROBATED    TO  PREACH."  53 

his  fellow-men,  and  longing  to  be  of  use  to  them, 
conscious,  undoubtedly,  of  a  growing  power  of 
thought,  it  was  natural  that  Emerson  should 
turn  from  the  task  of  a  school-master  to  the 
higher  office  of  a  preacher.  It  is  hard  to  con 
ceive  of  Emerson  in  either  of  the  other  so-called 
learned  professions.  His  devotion  to  truth  for 
its  own  sake  and  his  feeling  about  science  would 
have  kept  him  out  of  both  those  dusty  high 
ways.  His  brother  William  had  previously  be 
gun  the  study  of  Divinity,  but  found  his  mind 
beset  with  doubts  and  difficulties,  and  had  taken 
to  the  profession  of  Law.  It  is  not  unlikely  that 
Mr.  Emerson  was  more  or  less  exercised  with 
the  same  questionings.  He  has  said,  speaking 
of  his  instructors :  "If  they  had  examined  me, 
they  probably  would  not  have  let  me  preach  at 
all."  His  eyes  had  given  him  trouble,  so  that 
he  had  not  taken  notes  of  the  lectures  which  he 
heard  in  the  Divinity  School,  which  accounted  for 
his  being  excused  from  examination.  In  1826, 
after  three  years'  study,  he  was  "  approbated  to 
preach  "  by  the  Middlesex  Association  of  Min 
isters.  His  health  obliging  him  to  seek  a  south 
ern  climate,  he  went  in  the  following  winter  to 
South  Carolina  and  Florida.  During  this  ab 
sence  he  preached  several  times  in  Charleston 
and  other  places.  On  his  return  from  the  South 
he  preached  in  New  Bedford,  in  Northampton, 


54  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

in  Concord,  and  in  Boston.  His  attractiveness 
as  a  preacher,  of  which  we  shall  have  sufficient 
evidence  in  a  following  chapter,  led  to  his  being 
invited  to  share  the  duties  of  a  much  esteemed 
and  honored  city  clergyman,  and  the  next  posi 
tion  in  which  we  find  him  is  that  of  a  settled 
minister  in  Boston. 


CHAPTER  III. 

1828-1833.     MT.  25-30. 

Settled  as  Colleague  of  Rev.  Henry  Ware.  —  Married  to  Ellen 
Louisa  Tucker.  —  Sermon  at  the  Ordination  of  Rev.  H.  B. 
Goodwin.  —  His  Pastoral  and  Other  Labors.  —  Emerson 
and  Father  Taylor.  —  Death  of  Mrs.  Emerson.  —  Differ 
ence  of  Opinion  with  some  of  his  Parishioners.  —  Sermon 
Explaining  his  Views.  —  Resignation  of  his  Pastorate. 

ON  the  llth  of  March,  1829,  Emerson  was 
ordained  as  colleague  with  the  Reverend  Henry 
Ware,  Minister  of  the  Second  Church  in  Boston. 
In  September  of  the  same  year  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Ellen  Louisa  Tucker.  The  resignation 
of  his  colleague  soon  after  his  settlement  threw 
all  the  pastoral  duties  upon  the  young  minister, 
who  seems  to  have  performed  them  diligently 
and  acceptably.  Mr.  Conway  gives  the  follow 
ing  brief,  account  of  his  labors,  and  tells  in  the 
same  connection  a  story  of  Father  Taylor  too 
good  not  to  be  repeated  :  — 

"  Emerson  took  an  active  interest  in  the  public 
affairs  of  Boston.  He  was  on  its  School  Board,  and 
was  chosen  chaplain  of  the  State  Senate.  He  invited 
the  anti-slavery  lecturers  into  his  church,  and  helped 
philanthropists  of  other  denominations  in  their  work. 


56  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

Father  Taylor  [the  Methodist  preacher  to  the  sail 
ors],  to  whom  Dickens  gave  an  English  fame,  found 
in  him  his  most  important  supporter  when  establish 
ing  the  Seaman's  Mission  in  Boston.  This  was  told 
me  by  Father  Taylor  himself  in  his  old  age.  I  hap 
pened  to  be  in  his  company  once,  when  he  spoke 
rather  sternly  about  my  leaving  the  Methodist  Church ; 
but  when  I  spoke  of  the  part  Emerson  had  in  it,  he 
softened  at  once,  and  spoke  with  emotion  of  his  great 
friend.  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  the  good  Father  of 
Boston  Seamen  was  proud  of  any  personal  thing,  it 
was  of  the  excellent  answer  he  is  said  to  have  given 
to  some  Methodists  who  objected  to  his  friendship  for 
Emerson.  Being  a  Unitarian,  they  insisted  that  he 
must  go  to  "  —  [the  place  which  a  divine  of  Charles  the 
Second's  day  said  it  was  not  good  manners  to  mention 
in  church].  —  "'It  does  look  so,'  said  Father  Taylor, 
'  but  I  am  sure  of  one  thing :  if  Emerson  goes  to  ' ' 
—  [that  place]  —  "  '  he  will  change  the  climate  there, 
and  emigration  will  set  that  way.'  " 

In  1830,  Emerson  took  part  in  the  services  at 
the  ordination  of  the  Reverend  H.  B.  Goodwin 
as  Dr.  Ripley's  colleague.  His  address  on  giving 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship  was  printed,  but 
is  not  included  among  his  collected  works. 

The  fair  prospects  with  which  Emerson  began 
his  life  as  a  settled  minister  were  too  soon  dark 
ened.  In  February,  1832,  the  wife  of  his  youth, 
who  had  been  for  some  time  in  failing  health, 
died  of  consumption. 


SERMON  ON  THE   COMMUNION.  57 

He  had  become  troubled  with  doubts  respect 
ing  a  portion  of  his  duties,  and  it  was  not  in  his 
nature  to  conceal  these  doubts  from  his  people. 
On  the  9th  of  September,  1832,  he  preached  a 
sermon  011  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  which  he  an 
nounced  unreservedly  his  conscientious  scruples 
against  administering  that  ordinance,  and  the 
grounds  upon  which  those  scruples  were  founded. 
This  discourse,  as  his  only  printed  sermon,  and 
as  one  which  heralded  a  movement  in  New  Eng 
land  theology  which  has  never  stopped  from 
that  day  to  this,  deserves  some  special  notice. 
The  sermon  is  in  no  sense  "  Emersonian  "  except 
in  its  directness,  its  sweet  temper,  and  outspoken 
honesty.  He  argues  from  his  comparison  of 
texts  in  a  perfectly  sober,  old-fashioned  way,  as 
his  ancestor  Peter  Bulkeley  might  have  done. 
It  happened  to  that  worthy  forefather  of  Emer 
son  that  upon  his  "  pressing  a  piece  of  Charity 
disagreeable  to  the  will  of  the  Ruling  Elder, 
there  was  occasioned  an  unhappy  Discord  in  the 
Church  of  Concord ;  which  yet  was  at  last  healed, 
by  their  calling  in  the  help  of  a  Council  and  the 
Ruling  Elder  s  Abdication."  So  says  Cotton 
Mather.  Whether  zeal  had  grown  cooler  or 
charity  grown  warmer  in  Emerson's  days  we  need 
not  try  to  determine.  The  sermon  was  only  a 
more  formal  declaration  of  views  respecting  the 
Lord's  Supper,  which  he  had  previously  made 


58  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

known  in  a  conference  with  some  of  the  most 
active  members  of  his  church.  As  a  commit 
tee  of  the  parish  reported  resolutions  radically 
differing  from  his  opinion  on  the  subject,  he 
preached  this  sermon  and  at  the  same  time  re 
signed  his  office.  There  was  no  "discord,"  there 
was  no  need  of  a  "  council."  Nothing  could  be 
more  friendly,  more  truly  Christian,  than  the 
manner  in  which  Mr.  Emerson  expressed  himself 
in  this  parting  discourse.  All  the  kindness  of 
his  nature  warms  it  throughout.  He  details  the 
differences  of  opinion  which  have  existed  in  the 
church  with  regard  to  the  ordinance.  He  then 
argues  from  the  language  of  the  Evangelists  that 
it  was  not  intended  to  be  a  permanent  institu 
tion.  He  takes  up  the  statement  of  Paul  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  which  he  thinks,  all 
things  considered,  ought  not  to  alter  our  opinion 
derived  from  the  Evangelists.  He  does  not 
think  that  we  are  to  rely  upon  the  opinions  and 
practices  of  the  primitive  church.  If  that  church 
believed  the  institution  to  be  permanent,  their 
belief  does  not  settle  the  question  for  us.  On 
every  other  subject,  succeeding  times  have 
learned  to  form  a  judgment  more  in  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  Christianity  than  was  the  prac 
tice  of  the  early  ages. 

"  But,  it  is  said,  '  Admit  that  the  rite  was  not  de 
signed  to  be  perpetual.'     What  harm  doth  it? " 


SERMON  ON  THE   COMMUNION.  59 

He  proceeds  to  give  reasons  which  show  it  to 
be  inexpedient  to  continue  the  observance  of  the 
rite.  It  was  treating  that  as  authoritative  which, 
as  he  believed  that  he  had  shown  from  Scrip 
ture,  was  not  so.  It  confused  the  idea  of  God 
by  transferring  the  worship  of  Him  to  Christ. 
Christ  is  the  Mediator  only  as  the  instructor  of 
man.  In  the  least  petition  to  God  "  the  soul 
stands  alone  with  God,  and  Jesus  is  no  more 
present  to  your  mind  than  your  brother  or  child." 
Again :  — 

"  The  use  of  the  elements,  however  suitable  to  the 
people  and  the  modes  of  thought  in  the  East,  where 
it  originated,  is  foreign  and  unsuited  to  affect  us. 
The  day  of  formal  religion  is  past,  and  we  are  to  seek 
our  well-being  in  the  formation  of  the  soul.  The 
Jewish  was  a  religion  of  forms ;  it  was  all  body,  it 
had  no  life,  and  the  Almighty  God  was  pleased  to 
qualify  and  send  forth  a  man  to  teach  men  that  they 
must  serve  him  with  the  heart ;  that  only  that  life 
was  religious  which  was  thoroughly  good ;  that  sacri 
fice  was  smoke  and  forms  were  shadows.  This  man 
lived  and  died  true  to  that  purpose  ;  and  with  his 
blessed  word  and  life  before  us,  Christians  must  con 
tend  that  it  is  a  matter  of  vital  importance,  —  re 
ally  a  duty  to  commemorate  him  by  a  certain  form, 
whether  that  form  be  acceptable  to  their  understand 
ing  or  not.  Is  not  this  to  make  vain  the  gift  of  God  ? 
Is  not  this  to  turn  back  the  hand  on  the  dial  ?  " 


60  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

To  these  objections  he  adds  the  practical  con 
sideration  that  it  brings  those  who  do  not  par 
take  of  the  communion  service  into  an  unfavor 
able  relation  with  those  who  do. 

The  beautiful  spirit  of  the  man  shows  itself  in 
all  its  noble  sincerity  in  these  words  at  the  close 
of  his  argument :  — 

"  Having  said  this,  I  have  said  all.  I  have  no  hos 
tility  to  this  institution  ;  I  am  only  stating  my  want 
of  sympathy  with  it.  Neither  should  I  ever  have 
obtruded  this  opinion  upon  other  people,  had  I  not 
been  called  by  my  office  to  administer  it.  That  is 
the  end  of  my  opposition,  that  I  am  not  interested 
in  it.  I  am  content  that  it  stand  to  the  end  of  the 
world  if  it  please  men  and  please  Heaven,  and  I 
shall  rejoice  in  all  the  good  it  produces." 

He  then  announces  that,  as  it  is  the  prevailing 
opinion  and  feeling  in  our  religious  community 
that  it  is  a  part  of  a  pastor's  duties  to  administer 
this  rite,  he  is  about  to  resign  the  office  which 
had  been  confided  to  him. 

This  is  the  only  sermon  of  Mr.  Emerson's 
ever  published.  It  was  impossible  to  hear  or  to 
read  it  without  honoring  the  preacher  for  his 
truthfulness,  and  recognizing  the  force  of  his 
statement  and  reasoning.  It  was  equally  impos 
sible  that  he  could  continue  his  ministrations 
over  a  congregation  which  held  to  the  ordinance 


RESIGNATION  OF  PASTORATE.  61 

he  wished  to  give  up  entirely.  And  thus  it  was, 
that  with  the  most  friendly  feelings  on  both 
sides,  Mr,  Emerson  left  the  pulpit  of  the  Second 
Church  and  found  himself  obliged  to  make  a  be 
ginning  in  a  new  career. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1833-1838.    JET.  30-35. 

§  1.  Visit  to  Europe.  —  On  his  Eeturn  preaches  in  Different 
Places.  —  Emerson  in  the  Pulpit.  —  At  Newton.  —  Fixes 
his  Residence  at  Concord.  —  The  Old  Manse. — Lectures 
in  Boston.  —  Lectures  on  Michael  Angelo  and  on  Milton 
published  in  the  "  North  American  Review."  —  Beginning 
of  the  Correspondence  with  Carlyle. — Letters  to  the  Rev. 
James  Freeman  Clarke.  —  Republication  of  "  Sartor  Re- 
sartus." 

§  2.  Emerson's  Second  Marriage.  —  His  New  Residence  in 
Concord.  —  Historical  Address.  —  Course  of  Ten  Lectures 
on  English  Literature  delivered  in  Boston.  —  The  Concord 
Battle  Hymn.  —  Preaching  in  Concord  and  East  Lexington. 
—  Accounts  of  his  Preaching  by  Several  Hearers.  —  A 
Course  of  Lectures  on  the  Nature  and  Ends  of  History. — 
Address  on  War.  —  Death  of  Edward  Bliss  Emerson. — 
Death  of  Charles  Chauncy  Emerson. 

§  3.  Publication  of  "  Nature."  —  Outline  of  this  Essay.  —  Its 
Reception.  —  Address  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society. 

§  1.  IN  the  year  1833  Mr.  Emerson  visited 
Europe  for  the  first  time.  A  great  change  had 
come  over  his  life,  and  he  needed  the  relief 
which  a  corresponding  change  of  outward  cir 
cumstances  might  afford  him.  A  brief  account 
of  this  visit  is  prefixed  to  the  volume  entitled 
"  English  Traits."  He  took  a  short  tour,  in 
which  he  visited  Sicily,  Italy,  and  France,  and, 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  EUROPE.  63 

crossing  from  Boulogne,  landed  at  the  Tower 
Stairs  in  London.  He  finds  nothing  in  his  Diary 
to  publish  concerning  visits  to  places.  But  he 
saw  a  number  of  distinguished  persons,  of  whom 
he  gives  pleasant  accounts,  so  singularly  differ 
ent  in  tone  from  the  rough  caricatures  in  which 
Carlyle  vented  his  spleen  and  caprice,  that  one 
marvels  how  the  two  men  could  have  talked  ten 
minutes  together,  or  would  wonder,  had  not  one 
been  as  imperturbable  as  the  other  was  explosive. 
Horatio  Greenough  and  Walter  Savage  Landor 
are  the  chief  persons  he  speaks  of  as  having  met 
upon  the  Continent.  Of  these  he  reports  vari 
ous  opinions  as  delivered  in  conversation.  He 
mentions  incidentally  that  he  visited  Professor 
Amici,  who  showed  him  his  microscopes  "  mag 
nifying  (it  was  said)  two  thousand  diameters." 
Emerson  hardly  knew  his  privilege ;  he  may 
have  been  the  first  American  to  look  through 
an  immersion  lens  with  the  famous  Modena  pro 
fessor.  Mr.  Emerson  says  that  his  narrow  and 
desultory  reading  had  inspired  him  with  the 
wish  to  see  the  faces  of  three  or  four  writers, 
Coleridge,  Wordsworth,  Landor,  De  Quincey, 
Carlyle.  His  accounts  of  his  interviews  with 
these  distinguished  persons  are  too  condensed  to 
admit  of  further  abbreviation.  Goethe  and 
Scott,  whom  he  would  have  liked  to  look  upon, 
were  dead ;  Wellington  he  saw  at  Westminster 


64  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

Abbey,  at  the  funeral  of  Wilberforce.  His  im 
pressions  of  each  of  the  distinguished  persons 
whom  he  visited  should  be  looked  at  in  the  light 
of  the  general  remark  which  follows  :  — 

"  The  young  scholar  fancies  it  happiness  enough  to 
live  with  people  who  can  give  an  inside  to  the  world ; 
without  reflecting  that  they  are  prisoners,  too,  of 
their  own  thought,  and  cannot  apply  themselves  to 
yours.  The  conditions  of  literary  success  are  almost 
destructive  of  the  best  social  power,  as  they  do  not 
have  that  frolic  liberty  which  only  can  encounter  a 
companion  on  the  best  terms.  It  is  probable  you  left 
some  obscure  comrade  at  a  tavern,  or  in  the  farms, 
with  right  mother-wit,  and  equality  to  life,  when  you 
crossed  sea  and  land  to  play  bo-peep  with  celebrated 
scribes.  I  have,  however,  found  writers  superior  to 
their  books,  and  I  cling  to  my  first  belief  that  a 
strong  head  will  dispose  fast  enough  of  these  impedi 
ments,  and  give  one  the  satisfaction  of  reality,  the 
sense  of  having  been  met,  and  a  larger  horizon." 

Emerson  carried  a  letter  of  introduction  to  a 
gentleman  in  Edinburgh,  who,  being  unable  to 
pay  him  all  the  desired  attention,  handed  him 
over  to  Mr.  Alexander  Ireland,  who  has  given  a 
most  interesting  account  of  him  as  he  appeared 
during  that  first  visit  to  Europe.  Mr.  Ireland's 
presentation  of  Emerson  as  he  heard  him  in  the 
Scotch  pulpit  shows  that  he  was  not  less  im 
pressive  and  attractive  before  an  audience  of 


EMERSON  IN  THE  PULPIT.  65 

strangers  than  among  his  own  countrymen  and 
countrywomen :  — 

"  On  Sunday,  the  18th  of  August,  1833,  I  heard 
him  deliver  a  discourse  in  the  Unitarian  Chapel,  Young 
Street,  Edinburgh,  and  I  remember  distinctly  the 
effect  which  it  produced  on  his  hearers.  It  is  almost 
needless  to  say  that  nothing  like  it  had  ever  heen 
heard  by  them  before,  and  many  of  them  did  not 
know  what  to  make  of  it.  The  originality  of  his 
thoughts,  the  consummate  beauty  of  the  language  in 
which  they  were  clothed,  the  calm  dignity  of  his  bear 
ing,  the  absence  of  all  oratorical  effort,  and  the  singu 
lar  directness  arid  simplicity  of  his  manner,  free  from 
the  least  shadow  of  dogmatic  assumption,  made  a 
deep  impression  on  me.  Not  long  before  this  I  had 
listened  to  a  wonderful  sermon  by  Dr.  Chalmers, 
whose  force,  and  energy,  and  vehement,  but  rather 
turgid  eloquence  carried,  for  the  moment,  all  before 
them,  —  his  audience  becoming  like  clay  in  the  hands 
of  the  potter.  But  I  must  confess  that  the  pregnant 
thoughts  and  serene  self-possession  of  the  young  Bos 
ton  minister  had  a  greater  charm  for  me  than  all  the 
rhetorical  splendors  of  Chalmers.  His  voice  was  the 
sweetest,  the  most  winning  and  penetrating  of  any 
I  ever  heard ;  nothing  like  it  have  I  listened  to  since. 
'  That  music  in  our  hearts  we  bore 
Long  after  it  was  heard  no  more.' " 

Mr.  George  Gilfillan  speaks  of  "  the  solemnity 
of  his  manner,  and  the  earnest  thought  pervad 
ing  his  discourse." 
6 


66  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

As  to  the  effect  of  his  preaching  on  his  Amer 
ican  audiences,  I  find  the  following  evidence 
in  Mr.  Cooke's  diligently  gathered  collections. 
Mr.  Sanborn  says  :  — 

"His  pulpit  eloquence  was  singularly  attractive, 
though  by  no  means  equally  so  to  all  persons.  In 
1829,  before  the  two  friends  had  met,  Bronson  Alcott 
heard  him  preach  in  Dr.  Channing's  church  on  '  The 
Universality  of  the  Moral  Sentiment,'  and  was  struck, 
as  he  said,  with  the  youth  of  the  preacher,  the  beauty 
of  his  elocution  and  the  direct  and  sincere  manner 
in  which  he  addressed  his  hearers." 

Mr.  Charles  Congdon,  of  New  Bedford,  well 
known  as  a  popular  writer,  gives  the  following 
account  of  Emerson's  preaching  in  his  "  Rem 
iniscences."  I  borrow  the  quotation  from  Mr. 
Conway :  — 

"  One  day  there  came  into  our  pulpit  the  most 
gracious  of  mortals,  with  a  face  all  benignity,  who 
gave  out  the  first  hymn  and  made  the  first  prayer  as 
an  angel  might  have  read  and  prayed.  Our  choir 
was  a  pretty  good  one,  but  its  best  was  coarse  and 
discordant  after  Emerson's  voice.  I  remember  of 
the  sermon  only  that  it  had  an  indefinite  charm  of 
simplicity  and  wisdom,  with  occasional  illustrations 
from  nature,  which  were  about  the  most  delicate  and 
dainty  things  of  the  kind  which  I  had  ever  heard.  I 
could  understand  them,  if  not  the  fresh  philosophical 
novelties  of  the  discourse." 


EMERSON  IN  THE  PULPIT.  — AT  NEWTON.   67 

Everywhere  Emerson  seems  to  have  pleased 
his  audiences.  The.  Reverend  Dr.  Morison, 
formerly  the  much  respected  Unitarian  minister 
of  New  Bedford,  writes  to  me  as  follows  :  — 

"After  Dr.  Dewey  left  New  Bedford,  Mr.  Emer 
son  preached  there  several  months,  greatly  to  the  sat 
isfaction  and  delight  of  those  who  heard  him.  The 
Society  would  have  been  glad  to  settle  him  as  their 
minister,  and  he  would  have  accepted  a  call,  had  it 
not  been  for  some  difference  of  opinion,  I  think,  in 
regard  to  the  communion  service.  Judge  Warren, 
who  was  particularly  his  friend,  and  had  at  that  time 
a  leading  influence  in  the  parish,  with  all  his  admira 
tion  for  Mr.  Emerson,  did  not  think  he  could  well  be 
the  pastor  of  a  Christian  church,  and  so  the  matter 
was  settled  between  him  and  his  friend,  without  any 
action  by  the  Society." 

All  this  shows  well  enough  that  his  preaching 
was  eminently  acceptable.  But  every  one  who 
has  heard  him  lecture  can  form  an  idea  of  what 
he  must  have  been  as  a  preacher.  In  fact,  we 
have  all  listened,  probably,  to  many  a  passage 
from  old  sermons  of  his,  —  for  he  tells  us  he 
borrowed  from  those  old  sermons  for  his  lec 
tures,  —  without  ever  thinking  of  the  pulpit 
from  which  they  were  first  heard. 

Among  the  stray  glimpses  we  get  of  Emerson 
between  the  time  when  he  quitted  the  pulpit  of  his 
church  and  that  when  he  came  before  the  public 


68  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

as  a  lecturer  is  this,  which  I  owe  to  the  kindness 
of  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Kice.  In  1832  or  1833, 
probably  the  latter  year,  he,  then  a  boy,  with 
another  boy,  Thomas  R.  Gould,  afterwards  well 
known  as  a  sculptor,  being  at  the  Episcopal 
church  in  Newton,  found  that  Mr.  Emerson  was 
sitting  in  the  pew  behind  them.  Gould  knew 
Mr.  Emerson,  and  introduced  young  Rice  to  him, 
and  they  walked  down  the  street  together.  As 
they  went  along,  Emerson  burst  into  a  rhapsody 
over  the  Psalms  of  David,  the  sublimity  of 
thought,  and  the  poetic  beauty  of  expression  of 
which  they  are  full,  and  spoke  also  with  enthu 
siasm  of  the  Te  Deum  as  that  grand  old  hymn 
which  had  come  down  through  the  ages,  voicing 
the  praises  of  generation  after  generation. 

When  they  parted  at  the  house  of  young 
Rice's  father,  Emerson  invited  the  boys  to  come 
and  see  him  at  the  Allen  farm,  in  the  afternoon. 
They  came  to  a  piece  of  woods,  and,  as  they  en 
tered  it,  took  their  hats  off.  "  Boys,"  said  Em 
erson,  "here  we  recognize  the  presence  of  the 
Universal  Spirit.  The  breeze  says  to  us  in  its 
own  language,  How  d'  ye  do  ?  How  d'  ye  do  ? 
and  we  have  already  taken  our  hats  off  and  are 
answering  it  with  our  own  How  d'  ye  do  ?  How 
d'  ye  do  ?  And  all  the  waving  branches  of  the 
trees,  and  all  the  flowers,  and  the  field  of  corn 
yonder,  and  the  singing  brook,  and  the  insect 


REMOVAL   TO   CONCORD.  69 

and  the  bird,  —  every  living  thing  and  things 
we  call  inanimate  feel  the  same  divine  universal 
impulse  while  they  join  with  us,  and  we  with 
them,  in  the  greeting  which  is  the  salutation  of 
the  Universal  Spirit." 

We  perceive  the  same  feeling  which  pervades 
many  of  Emerson's  earlier  Essays  and  much  of 
his  verse,  in  these  long-treasured  reminiscences 
of  the  poetical  improvisation  with  which  the  two 
boys  were  thus  unexpectedly  favored.  Governor 
Rice  continues :  — 

"  You  know  what  a  captivating  charm  there  always 
was  in  Emerson's  presence,  but  I  can  never  tell  you 
how  this  line  of  thought  then  impressed  a  country 
boy.  I  do  not  remember  anything  about  the  remain* 
der  of  that  walk,  nor  of  the  after-incidents  of  that 
day,  —  I  only  remember  that  I  went  home  wondering 
about  that  mystical  dream  of  the  Universal  Spirit, 
and  about  what  manner  of  man  he  was  under  whose 
influence  I  had  for  the  first  time  come.  .  .  . 

"  The  interview  left  impressions  that  led  me  into 
new  channels  of  thought  which  have  been  a  life-long 
pleasure  to  me,  and,  I  doubt  not,  taught  me  somewhat 
how  to  distinguish  between  mere  theological  dogma 
and  genuine  religion  in  the  soul." 

In  the  summer  of  1834  Emerson  became  a 
resident  of  Concord,  Massachusetts,  the  town  of 
his  forefathers,  and  the  place  destined  to  be  his 
home  for  life.  He  first  lived  with  his  venerable 


70  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

connection,  Dr.  Bipley,  in  the  dwelling  made 
famous  by  Hawthorne  as  the  "  Old  Manse."  It 
is  an  old-fashioned  gambrel-roofed  house,  stand 
ing  close  to  the  scene  of  the  Fight  on  the  banks 
of  the  river.  It  was  built  for  the  Reverend  Wil 
liam  Emerson,  his  grandfather.  In  one  of  the 
rooms  of  this  house  Emerson  wrote  "  Nature," 
and  in  the  same  room,  some  years  later,  Haw 
thorne  wrote  "  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse." 

The  place  in  which  Emerson  passed  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  well  deserves  a  special 
notice.  Concord  might  sit  for  its  portrait  as  an 
ideal  New  England  town.  If  wanting  in  the 
variety  of  surface  which  many  other  towns  can 
boast  of,  it  has  at  least  a  vision  of  the  distant 
summits  of  Monadnock  and  Wachusett.  It  has 
fine  old  woods,  and  noble  elms  to  give  dignity 
to  its  open  spaces.  Beautiful  ponds,  as  they 
modestly  call  themselves,  —  one  of  which,  Wai- 
den,  is  as  well  known  in  our  literature  as  Win- 
dermere  in  that  of  Old  England,  —  lie  quietly 
in  their  clean  basins.  And  through  the  green 
meadows  runs,  or  rather  lounges,  a  gentle,  un- 
salted  stream,  like  an  English  river,  licking  its 
grassy  margin  with  a  sort  of  bovine  placidity 
and  contentment.  This  is  the  Musketaquid,  or 
Meadow  River,  which,  after  being  joined  by  the 
more  restless  Assabet,  still  keeps  its  temper  and 
flows  peacefully  along  by  and  through  other 


CONCORD.  71 

towns,  to  lose  itself  in  the  broad  Merrimac.  The 
names  of  these  rivers  tell  us  that  Concord  has  an 
Indian  history,  and  there  is  evidence  that  it  was 
a  favorite  residence  of  the  race  which  preceded 
our  own.  The  native  tribes  knew  as  well  as  the 
white  settlers  where  were  pleasant  streams  and 
sweet  springs,  where  corn  grew  tall  in  the  mead 
ows  and  fish  bred  fast  in  the  unpolluted  waters. 
The  place  thus  favored  by  nature  can  show  a 
record  worthy  of  its  physical  attractions.  Its 
settlement  under  the  lead  of  Emerson's  ancestor, 
Peter  Bulkeley,  was  effected  in  the  midst  of 
many  difficulties,  which  the  enterprise  and  self- 
sacrifice  of  that  noble  leader  were  successful  in 
overcoming.  On  the  banks  of  the  Musketaquid 
was  fired  the  first  fatal  shot  of  the  "  rebel " 
farmers.  Emerson  appeals  to  the  Records  of  the 
town  for  two  hundred  years  as  illustrating  the 
working  of  our  American  institutions  and  the 
character  of  the  men  of  Concord  :  — 

"  If  the  good  counsel  prevailed,  the  sneaking  coun 
sel  did  not  fail  to  be  suggested  ;  freedom  and  virtue, 
if  they  triumphed,  triumphed  in  a  fair  field.  And 
so  be  it  an  everlasting  testimony  for  them,  and  so 
much  ground  of  assurance  of  man's  capacity  for  self- 
government." 

What  names  that  plain  New  England  town 
reckons  in  the  roll  of  its  inhabitants !  Stout 
Major  Buttrick  and  his  fellow-soldiers  in  the  war 


72  RALPH    WALDO   EMERSON. 

of  Independence,  and  their  worthy  successors  in 
the  war  of  Freedom ;  lawyers  and  statesmen  like 
Samuel  Hoar  and  his  descendants ;  ministers 
like  Peter  Bulkeley,  Daniel  Bliss,  and  William 
Emerson  ;  and  men  of  genius  such  as  the  ideal 
ist  and  poet  whose  inspiration  has  kindled  so 
many  souls ;  as  the  romancer  who  has  given  an 
atmosphere  to  the  hard  outlines  of  our  stern 
New  England;  as  that  unique  individual,  half 
college-graduate  and  half  Algonquin,  the  Robin 
son  Crusoe  of  Walden  Pond,  who  carried  out  a 
school-boy  whim  to  its  full  proportions,  and  told 
the  story  of  Nature  in  undress  as  only  one  who 
had  hidden  in  her  bedroom  could  have  told  it. 
I  need  not  lengthen  the  catalogue  by  speaking 
of  the  living,  or  mentioning  the  women  whose 
names  have  added  to  its  distinction.  It  has  long 
been  an  intellectual  centre  such  as  no  other 
country  town  of  our  own  land,  if  of  any  other, 
could  boast.  Its  groves,  its  streams,  its  houses, 
are  haunted  by  undying  memories,  and  its  hill 
sides  and  hollows  are  made  holy  by  the  dust  that 
is  covered  by  their  turf. 

Such  was  the  place  which  the  advent  of  Em 
erson  made  the  Delphi  of  New  England  and  the 
resort  of  many  pilgrims  from  far-off  regions. 

On  his  return  from  Europe  in  the  winter 
of  1833-4,  Mr.  Emerson  began  to  appear  be 
fore  the  public  as  a  lecturer.  His  first  sub- 


EMERSON  AS  A  LECTURER.  73 

jects,  "  Water,"  and  the  "  Relation  of  Man  to 
the  Globe,"  were  hardly  such  as  we  should  have 
expected  from  a  scholar  who  had  but  a  limited 
acquaintance  with  physical  and  physiological 
science.  They  were  probably  chosen  as  of  a 
popular  character,  easily  treated  in  such  a  way 
as  to  be  intelligible  and  entertaining,  and  thus 
answering  the  purpose  of  introducing  him  pleas 
antly  to  the  new  career  he  was  contemplating. 
These  lectures  are  not  included  in  his  published 
works,  nor  were  they  ever  published,  so  far  as  I 
know.  He  gave  three  lectures  during  the  same 
winter,  relating  the  experiences  of  his  recent  tour 
in  Europe.  Having  made  himself  at  home  on  the 
platform,  he  ventured  upon  subjects  more  congen 
ial  to  his  taste  and  habits  of  thought  than  some 
of  those  earlier  topics.  In  1834  he  lectured  on 
Michael  Angelo,  Milton,  Luther,  George  Fox, 
and  Edmund  Burke.  The  first  two  of  these  lec 
tures,  though  not  included  in  his  collected  works, 
may  be  found  in  the  "  North  American  Review  " 
for  1837  and  1838.  The  germ  of  many  of  the 
thoughts  which  he  has  expanded  in  prose  and 
verse  may  be  found  in  these  Essays. 

The  Cosmos  of  the  Ancient  Greeks,  the  piu 
neT  uno,  "  The  Many  in  One,"  appear  in  the 
Essay  on  Michael  Angelo  as  they  also  appear  in 
his  "  Nature."  The  last  thought  takes  wings  to 
itself  and  rises  in  the  little  poem  entitled  "  Each 


74  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

and  All."  The  "  Rhodora,"  another  brief  poem, 
finds  itself  foreshadowed  in  the  inquiry,  "  What 
is  Beauty  ?  "  and  its  answer,  "  This  great  Whole 
the  understanding  cannot  embrace.  Beauty 
may  be  felt.  It  may  be  produced.  But  it  can 
not  be  defined."  And  throughout  this  Essay 
the  feeling  that  truth  and  beauty  and  virtue  are 
one,  and  that  Nature  is  the  symbol  which  typi 
fies  it  to  the  soul,  is  the  inspiring  sentiment. 
Noscitur  a  sociis  applies  as  well  to  a  man's 
dead  as  to  his  living  companions.  A  young 
friend  of  mine  in  his  college  days  wrote  an  es 
say  on  Plato.  When  he  mentioned  his  subject 
to  Mr.  Emerson,  he  got  the  caution,  long  remem 
bered,  "  When  you  strike  at  a  King,  you  must 
kill  him."  He  himself  knew  well  with  what 
kings  of  thought  to  measure  his  own  intelligence. 
What  was  grandest,  loftiest,  purest,  in  human 
character  chiefly  interested  him.  He  rarely 
meddles  with  what  is  petty  or  ignoble.  Like  his 
"Humble  Bee,"  the  "  yellow -breeched  philoso 
pher,"  whom  he  speaks  of  as 

"  Wiser  far  than  human  seer," 
and  says  of  him, 

"  Aught  unsavory  or  unclean 
Hath  my  insect  never  seen," 

he  goes  through  the  world  where  coarser  minds 
find  so  much  that  is  repulsive  to  dwell  upon, 


EARLY  LECTURES.  75 

"  Seeing  only  what  is  fair, 
Sipping  only  what  is  sweet." 

Why  Emerson  selected  Michael  Angelo  as  the 
subject  of  one  of  his  earliest  lectures  is  shown 
clearly  enough  by  the  last  sentence  as  printed  in 
the  Essay. 

"  He  was  not  a  citizen  of  any  country ;  he  be 
longed  to  the  human  race ;  he  was  a  brother  and  a 
friend  to  all  who  acknowledged  the  beauty  that  beams 
in  universal  nature,  and  who  seek  by  labor  and  self- 
denial  to  approach  its  source  in  perfect  goodness." 

Consciously  or  unconsciously  men  describe 
themselves  in  the  characters  they  draw.  One 
must  have  the  mordant  in  his  own  personality 
or  he  will  not  take  the  color  of  his  subject.  He 
may  force  himself  to  picture  that  which  he  dis 
likes  or  even  detests ;  but  when  he  loves  the 
character  he  delineates,  it  is  his  own,  in  some 
measure,  at  least,  or  one  of  which  he  feels  that 
its  possibilities  and  tendencies  belong  to  himself. 
Let  us  try  Emerson  by  this  test  in  his  "  Essay 
on  Milton :  "  — 

"  It  is  the  prerogative  of  this  great  man  to  stand 
at  this  hour  foremost  of  all  men  in  literary  history, 
and  so  (shall  we  not  say  ?)  of  all  men,  in  the  power 
to  inspire.  Virtue  goes  out  of  him  into  others."  .  .  . 
"  He  is  identified  in  the  mind  with  all  select  and  holy 
images,  with  the  supreme  interests  of  the  human 
race."  —  "  Better  than  any  other  he  has  discharged 


76  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

the  office  of  every  great  man,  namely,  to  raise  the 
idea  of  Man  in  the  minds  of  his  contemporaries  and 
of  posterity,  —  to  draw  after  nature  a  life  of  man, 
exhibiting  such  a  composition  of  grace,  of  strength, 
and  of  virtue  as  poet  had  not  described  nor  hero 
lived.  Human  nature  in  these  ages  is  indebted  to  him 
for  its  best  portrait.  Many  philosophers  in  England, 
France,  and  Germany,  have  formally  dedicated  their 
study  to  this  problem ;  and  we  think  it  impossible  to 
recall  one  in  those  countries  who  communicates  the 
same  vibration  of  hope,  of  self-reverence,  of  piety,  of 
delight  in  beauty,  which  the  name  of  Milton  awakes." 

Emerson  had  the  same  lofty  aim  as  Milton, 
"  To  raise  the  idea  of  man  ; "  he  had  "  the  power 
to  inspire  "  in  a  preeminent  degree.  If  ever  a 
man  communicated  those  vibrations  he  speaks  of 
as  characteristic  of  Milton,  it  was  Emerson.  In 
elevation,  purity,  nobility  of  nature,  he  is  worthy 
to  stand  with  the  great  poet  and  patriot,  who 
began  like  him  as  a  school-master,  and  ended  as 
the  teacher  in  a  school-house  which  had  for  its 
walls  the  horizons  of  every  region  where  English 
is  spoken.  The  similarity  of  their  characters 
might  be  followed  by  the  curious  into  their  for 
tunes.  Both  were  turned  away  from  the  clerical 
office  by  a  revolt  of  conscience  against  the  be 
liefs  required  of  them ;  both  lost  very  dear  ob 
jects  of  affection  in  early  manhood,  and  mourned 
for  them  in  tender  and  mellifluous  threnodies. 


EMERSON'S  ESSAY  ON  MILTON.  7T 

It  would  be  easy  to  trace  many  parallelisms  in 
their  prose  and  poetry,  but  to  have  dared  to 
name  any  man  whom  we  have  known  in  our 
common  life  with  the  seraphic  singer  of  the  Na 
tivity  and  of  Paradise  is  a  tribute  which  seems 
to  savor  of  audacity.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  of 
Emerson  as  "  an  expert  swordsman "  like  Mil 
ton.  It  is  impossible  to  think  of  him  as  an 
abusive  controversialist  as  Milton  was  in  his 
controversy  with  Salmasius.  But  though  Emer 
son  never  betrayed  it  to  the  offence  of  others,  he 
must  have  been  conscious,  like  Milton,  of  "  a 
certain  niceness  of  nature,  an  honest  haughti 
ness,"  which  was  as  a  shield  about  his  inner  na 
ture.  Charles  Emerson,  the  younger  brother, 
who  was  of  the  same  type,  expresses  the  feeling 
in  his  college  essay  on  Friendship,  where  it  is 
all  summed  up  in  the  line  he  quotes :  — 

"  The  hand  of  Douglas  is  his  own." 

It  must  be  that  in  writing  this  Essay  on  Milton 
Emerson  felt  that  he  was  listening  in  his  own 
soul  to  whispers  that  seemed  like  echoes  from 
that  of  the  divine  singer. 

My  friend,  the  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
a  life-long  friend  of  Emerson,  who  understood 
him  from  the  first,  and  was  himself  a  great  part 
in  the  movement  of  which  Emerson,  more  than 


78  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

any  other  man,  was  the  leader,  has  kindly  al 
lowed  me  to  make  use  of  the  following  letters :  — 

TO  REV.   JAMES   F.   CLARKE,   LOUISVILLE,    KY. 

PLYMOUTH,  MASS.,  March  12,  1834. 
MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  As  the  day  approaches  when 
Mr.  Lewis  should  leave  Boston,  I  seize  a  few  mo 
ments  in  a  friendly  house  in  the  first  of  towns,  to 
thank  you  heartily  for  your  kindness  in  lending  me 
the  valued  manuscripts  which  I  return.  The  transla 
tions  excited  me  much,  and  who  can  estimate  the  value 
of  a  good  thought  ?  I  trust  I  am  to  learn  much  more 
from  you  hereafter  of  your  German  studies,  and 
much  I  hope  of  your  own.  You  asked  in  your  note 
concerning  Carlyle.  My  recollections  of  him  are 
most  pleasant,  and  I  feel  great  confidence  in  his  char 
acter.  He  understands  and  recognizes  his  mission. 
He  is  perfectly  simple  and  affectionate  in  his  manner, 
and  frank,  as  he  can  weh1  afford  to  he,  in  his  com 
munications.  He  expressed  some  impatience  of  his 
total  solitude,  and  talked  of  Paris  as  a  residence. 
I  told  him  I  hoped  not ;  for  I  should  always  remem- 
her  him  with  respect,  meditating  in  the  mountains 
of  Nithsdale.  He  was  cheered,  as  he  ought  to  he,  by 
learning  that  his  papers  were  read  with  interest  by 
young  men  unknown  to  him  in  this  continent ;  and 
when  I  specified  a  piece  which  had  attracted  warm 
commendation  from  the  New  Jerusalem  people  here, 
his  wife  said  that  is  always  the  way  ;  whatever  he  has 
writ  that  he  thinks  has  fallen  dead,  he  hears  of  two 
or  three  years  afterward.  —  He  has  many,  many  to- 


EMERSON  TO  JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE.     79 

kens  of  Goethe's  regard,  miniatures,  medals,  and  many 
letters.  If  you  should  go  to  Scotland  one  day,  you 
would  gratify  him,  yourself,  and  me,  hy  your  visit  to 
Craigenputtock,  in  the  parish  of  Dunscore,  near  Dum 
fries.  He  told  me  he  had  a  book  which  he  thought 
to  publish,  hut  was  in  the  purpose  of  dividing  into  a 
series  of  articles  for  "  Fraser's  Magazine."  I  there 
fore  subscribed  for  that  book,  which  he  calls  the 
"  Mud  Magazine,"  but  have  seen  nothing  of  his  work 
manship  in  the  two  last  numbers.  The  mail  is  going, 
so  I  shall  finish  my  letter  another  time. 

Your  obliged  friend  and  servant, 

R.  WALDO  EMERSON. 

CONCORD,  MASS.,  November  25,  1834. 
MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Miss  Peabody  has  kindly  sent 
me  your  manuscript  piece  on  Goethe  and  Carlyle.  I 
have  read  it  with  great  pleasure  and  a  feeling  of 
gratitude,  at  the  same  time  with  a  serious  regret  that 
it  was  not  published.  I  have  forgotten  what  reason 
you  assigned  for  not  printing  it ;  I  cannot  think  of 
any  sufficient  one.  Is  it  too  late  now  ?  Why  not 
change  its  form  a  little  and  annex  to  it  some  account 
of  Carlyle's  later  pieces,  to  wit :  "  Diderot,"  and 
"  Sartor  Resartus."  The  last  is  complete,  and  he 
has  sent  it  to  me  in  a  stitched  pamphlet.  Whilst 
I  see  its  vices  (relatively  to  the  reading  public)  of 
style,  I  cannot  but  esteem  it  a  noble  philosophical 
poem,  reflecting  the  ideas,  institutions,  men  of  this 
very  hour.  And  it  seems  to  me  that  it  has  so  much 
wit  and  other  secondary  graces  as  must  strike  a  class 
who  would  not  care  for  its  primary  merit,  that  of 


80  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

being  a  sincere  exhortation  to  seekers  of  truth.  If 
you  still  retain  your  interest  in  his  genius  (as  I  see 
not  how  you  can  avoid,  having  understood  it  and  co 
operated  with  it  so  truly),  you  will  be  glad  to  know 
that  he  values  his  American  readers  very  highly ;  that 
he  does  not  defend  this  offensive  style  of  his,  but 
calls  it  questionable  tentative  •,  that  he  is  trying  other 
modes,  and  is  about  publishing  a  historical  piece  called 
"  The  Diamond  Necklace,"  as  a  part  of  a  great  work 
which  he  meditates  on  the  subject  of  the  French  Rev 
olution.  He  says  it  is  part  of  his  creed  that  history 
is  poetry,  could  we  tell  it  right.  He  adds,  moreover, 
in  a  letter  I  have  recently  received  from  him,  that 
it  has  been  an  odd  dream  that  he  might  end  in  the 
western  woods.  Shall  we  not  bid  him  come,  and  be 
Poet  and  Teacher  of  a  most  scattered  flock  wanting 
a  shepherd  ?  Or,  as  I  sometimes  think,  would  it  not 
be  a  new  and  worse  chagrin  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  extreme  deadness  of  our  community  to 
spiritual  influences  of  the  higher  kind  ?  Have  you 
read  Sampson  Reed's  "  Growth  of  the  Mind  "  ?  I 
rejoice  to  be  contemporary  with  that  man,  and  can 
not  wholly  despair  of  the  society  in  which  he  lives ; 
there  must  be  some  oxygen  yet,  and  La  Fayette  is 
only  just  dead. 

Your  friend,  R.  WALDO  EMERSON. 

It  occurs  to  me  that 't  is  unfit  to  send  any  white 
paper  so  far  as  to  your  house,  so  you  shall  have  a 
sentence  from  Carlyle's  letter. 

[This  may  be  found  in  Carlyle's  first  letter,  dated  12th 
August,  1834.] 


"SARTOR  RESARTUS."  81 

Dr.  Le  Baron  Russell,  an  intimate  friend  of 
Emerson  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  gives 
me  some  particulars  with  reference  to  the  pub 
lication  of  "  Sartor  Resartus,"  which  I  will  re 
peat  in  his  own  words :  — 

"  It  was  just  before  the  time  of  which  I  am  speak 
ing  [that  of  Emerson's  marriage]  that  the  '  Sartor 
Resartus '  appeared  in  '  Fraser.'  Emerson  lent  the 
numbers,  or  the  collected  sheets  of  '  Fraser,'  to  Miss 
Jackson,  and  we  all  had  the  reading  of  them.  The 
excitement  which  the  book  caused  among  young  per 
sons  interested  in  the  literature  of  the  day  at  that 
time  you  probably  remember.  I  was  quite  carried 
away  by  it,  and  so  anxious  to  own  a  copy,  that  I  de 
termined  to  publish  an  American  edition.  I  con 
sulted  James  Munroe  &  Co.  on  the  subject.  Munroe 
advised  me  to  obtain  a  subscription  to  a  sufficient 
number  of  copies  to  secure  the  cost  of  the  publication. 
This,  with  the  aid  of  some  friends,  particularly  of 
my  classmate,  William  Silsbee,  I  readily  succeeded  in 
doing.  When  this  was  accomplished,  I  wrote  to  Em 
erson,  who  up  to  this  tune  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
enterprise,  asking  him  to  write  a  preface.  (This  is 
the  Preface  which  appears  in  the  American  edition, 
James  Munroe  &  Co.,  1836.  It  was  omitted  in  the 
third  American  from  the  second  London  edition,1  by 
the  same  publishers,  1840.)  Before  the  first  edi 
tion  appeared,  and  after  the  subscription  had  been 
secured,  Munroe  &  Co.  offered  to  assume  the  whole 
responsibility  of  the  publication,  and  to  this  I  assented. 
1  Revised  and  corrected  bj  the  author. 


82  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  This  American  edition  of  1836  was  the  first  ap 
pearance  of  the  '  Sartor  '  in  either  country,  as  a  dis 
tinct  edition.  Some  copies  of  the  sheets  from  '  Fra- 
ser,'  it  appears,  were  stitched  together  and  sent  to  a 
few  persons,  but  Carlyle  could  find  no  English  pub 
lisher  willing  to  take  the  responsibility  of  printing  the 
book.  This  shows,  I  think,  how  much  more  interest 
was  taken  in  Carlyle's  writings  in  this  country  than 
in  England." 

On  the  14th  of  May,  1834,  Emerson  wrote  to 
Carlyle  the  first  letter  of  that  correspondence 
which  has  since  been  given  to  the  world  under 
the  careful  editorship  of  Mr.  Charles  Norton. 
This  correspondence  lasted  from  the  date  men 
tioned  to  the  2d  of  April,  1872,  when  Carlyle 
wrote  his  last  letter  to  Emerson.  The  two  writ 
ers  reveal  themselves  as  being  in  strong  sympa 
thy  with  each  other,  in  spite  of  a  radical  differ 
ence  of  temperament  and  entirely  opposite  views 
of  life.  The  hatred  of  unreality  was  uppermost 
with  Carlyle ;  the  love  of  what  is  real  and  gen 
uine  with  Emerson.  Those  old  moralists,  the 
weeping  and  the  laughing  philosophers,  find  their 
counterparts  in  every  thinking  community.  Car 
lyle  did  not  weep,  but  he  scolded  ;  Emerson  did 
not  laugh,  but  in  his  gravest  moments  there  was 
a  smile  waiting  for  the  cloud  to  pass  from  his 
forehead.  The  Duet  they  chanted  was  a  Mise 
rere  with  a  Te  Deum  for  its  Antiphon ;  a  De 


EMERSON'S  SECOND   MARRIAGE.  83 

Profundis  answered  by  a  Sursum  Corda.  "  The 
ground  of  niy  existence  is  black  as  death,"  says 
Carlyle.  "  Come  and  live  with  me  a  year,"  says 
Emerson,  "  and  if  you  do  not  like  New  Eng 
land  well  enough  to  stay,  one  of  these  years 
(when  the  '  History '  has  passed  its  ten  editions, 
and  been  translated  into  as  many  languages)  I 
will  come  and  dwell  with  you." 

§  2.  In  September,  1835,  Emerson  was  mar 
ried  to  Miss  Lyclia  Jackson,  of  Plymouth,  Mas 
sachusetts.  The  wedding  took  place  in  the  fine 
old  mansion  known  as  the  Winslow  House,  Dr. 
Le  Baron  Russell  and  his  sister  standing  up  with 
the  bridegroom  and  his  bride.  After  their  mar 
riage,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Emerson  went  to  reside  in 
the  house  in  which  he  passed  the  rest  of  his  life, 
and  in  which  Mrs.  Emerson  and  their  daughter 
still  reside.  This  is  the  "  plain,  square,  wooden 
house,"  with  horse-chestnut  trees  in  the  front 
yard,  and  evergreens  around  it,  which  has  been 
so  often  described  and  figured.  It  is  without 
pretensions,  but  not  without  an  air  of  quiet  dig 
nity.  A  full  and  well-illustrated  account  of  it 
and  its  arrangements  and  surroundings  is  given 
in  "  Poets'  Homes,"  by  Arthur  Oilman  and 
others,  published  by  D.  Lothrop  &  Company  in 
1879. 

On  the  12th  of  September,   1835,  Emerson 


84  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

delivered  an  "  Historical  Discourse,  at  Concord, 
on  the  Second  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  In 
corporation  of  the  Town."  There  is  no  "mys 
ticism,"  no  "transcendentalism"  in  this  plain, 
straightforward  Address.  The  facts  are  collected 
and  related  with  the  patience  and  sobriety  which 
became  the  writer  as  one  of  the  Dryasdusts  of 
our  very  diligent,  very  useful,  very  matter-of-fact, 
and  for  the  most  part  judiciously  unimaginative 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  It  looks  un 
like  anything  else  Emerson  ever  wrote,  in  being 
provided  with  abundant  foot-notes  and  an  appen 
dix.  One  would  almost  as  soon  have  expected 
to  see  Emerson  equipped  with  a  musket  and  a 
knapsack  as  to  find  a  discourse  of  his  clogged 
with  annotations,  and  trailing  a  supplement  after 
it.  Oracles  are  brief  and  final  in  their  utter 
ances.  Delphi  and  Cumae  are  not  expected  to 
explain  what  they  say. 

It  is  the  habit  of  our  New  England  towns  to 
celebrate  their  own  worthies  and  their  own  deeds 
on  occasions  like  this,  with  more  or  less  of  rhe 
torical  gratitude  and  self-felicitation.  The  dis 
courses  delivered  on  these  occasions  are  com 
monly  worth  reading,  for  there  was  never  a 
clearing  made  in  the  forest  that  did  not  let  in 
the  light  on  heroes  and  heroines.  Concord  is  on 
the  whole  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  inland 
towns  of  New  England.  Emerson  has  told  its 


CONCORD   "HISTORICAL  ADDRESS."  85 

story  in  as  painstaking',  faithful  a  way  as  if  he 
had  been  by  nature  an  annalist.  But  with  this 
fidelity,  we  find  also  those  bold  generalizations 
and  sharp  picturesque  touches  which  reveal  the 
poetic  philosopher. 

"  I  have  read  with  care,"  he  says,  "  the  town  rec 
ords  themselves.  They  exhibit  a  pleasing  picture  of 
a  community  almost  exclusively  agricultural,  where 
no  man  has  much  time  for  words,  in  his  search  after 
things  ;  of  a  community  of  great  simplicity  of  man 
ners,  and  of  a  manifest  love  of  justice.  I  find  our 
annals  marked  with  a  uniform  good  sense.  —  The 
tone  of  the  record  rises  with  the  dignity  of  the  event. 
These  soiled  and  musty  books  are  luminous  and  elec 
tric  within.  The  old  town  clerks  did  not  spell  very 
correctly,  but  they  contrive  to  make  intelligible  the 
will  of  a  free  and  just  community."  ..."  The  mat 
ters  there  debated  (in  town  meetings)  are  such  as  to 
invite  very  small  consideration.  The  ill-spelled  pages 
of  the  town  records  contain  the  result.  I  shall  be 
excused  for  confessing  that  I  have  set  a  value  upon 
any  symptom  of  meanness  and  private  pique  which  I 
have  met  with  in  these  antique  books,  as  proof  that 
justice  was  done  ;  that  if  the  results  of  our  history 
are  approved  as  wise  and  good,  it  was  yet  a  free 
strife ;  if  the  good  counsel  prevailed,  the  sneaking 
counsel  did  not  fail  to  be  suggested ;  freedom  and 
virtue,  if  they  triumphed,  triumphed  in  a  fair  field. 
And  so  be  it  an  everlasting  testimony  for  them,  and 
so  much  ground  of  assurance  of  man's  capacity  for 
self-government." 


86  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

There  was  nothing  in  this  Address  which  the 
plainest  of  Concord's  citizens  could  not  read  un- 
derstandingly  and  with  pleasure.  In  fact  Mr. 
Emerson  himself,  besides  being  a  poet  and  a  phi 
losopher,  was  also  a  plain  Concord  citizen.  His 
son  tells  me  that  he  was  a  faithful  attendant  upon 
town  meetings,  and,  though  he  never  spoke,  was 
an  interested  and  careful  listener  to  the  debates 
on  town  matters.  That  respect  for  "mother- 
wit  "  and  for  all  the  wholesome  human  qualities 
which  reveals  itself  all  through  his  writings  was 
bred  from  this  kind  of  intercourse  with  men  of 
sense  who  had  no  pretensions  to  learning,  and  in 
whom,  for  that  very  reason,  the  native  qualities 
came  out  with  less  disguise  in  their  expression. 
He  was  surrounded  by  men  who  ran  to  extremes 
in  their  idiosyncrasies  :  Alcott  in  speculations, 
which  often  led  him  into  the  fourth  dimension 
of  mental  space ;  Hawthorne,  who  brooded  him 
self  into  a  dream -peopled  solitude;  Thoreau, 
the  nullifier  of  civilization,  who  insisted  on  nib 
bling  his  asparagus  at  the  wrong  end,  to  say 
nothing  of  idolaters  and  echoes.  He  kept  his 
balance  among  them  all.  It  would  be  hard  to 
find  a  more  candid  and  sober  record  of  the  result 
of  self-government  in  a  small  community  than 
is  contained  in  this  simple  discourse,  patient  in 
detail,  large  in  treatment,  more  effective  than 
any  unsupported  generalities  about  the  natural 


TEE  CONCORD  HYMN.  87 

rights  of  man,  which  amount  to  very  little  unless 
men  earn  the  right  of  asserting  them  by  attend 
ing  fairly  to  their  natural  duties.  So  admirably 
is  the  working  of  a  town  government,  as  it  goes 
on  in  a  well-disposed  community,  displayed  in 
the  history  of  Concord's  two  hundred  years  of 
village  life,  that  one  of  its  wisest  citizens  had 
portions  of  the  address  printed  for  distribution, 
as  an  illustration  of  the  American  principle  of 
self-government. 

After  settling  in  Concord,  Emerson  delivered 
courses  of  Lectures  in  Boston  during  several  suc 
cessive  winters  ;  in  1835,  ten  Lectures  on  Eng 
lish  Literature  ;  in  1836,  twelve  Lectures  on  the 
Philosophy  of  History;  in  1837,  ten  Lectures 
on  Human  Culture.  Some  of  these  lectures  may 
have  appeared  in  print  under  their  original 
titles ;  all  of  them  probably  contributed  to  the 
Essays  and  Discourses  which  we  find  in  his 
published  volumes. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1836,  a  meeting  was 
held  to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the  monu 
ment  raised  in  commemoration  of  the  Concord 
Fight.  For  this  occasion  Emerson  wrote  the 
hymn  made  ever  memorable  by  the  lines  :  — 

Here  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood, 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world.  - 

The  last  line  of  this  hymn  quickens  the  heart 
beats  of  every  American,  and  the  whole  hymn 
is  admirable  in  thought  and  expression. 


88  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

Until  the  autumn  of  1838,  Emerson  preached 
twice  on  Sundays  to  the  church  at  East  Lexing 
ton,  which  desired  him  to  become  its  pastor. 
Mr.  Cooke  says  that  when  a  lady  of  the  society 
was  asked  why  they  did  not  settle  a  friend  of 
Emerson's  whom  he  had  urged  them  to  invite 
to  their  pulpit,  she  replied :  "  We  are  a  very 
simple  people,  and  can  understand  no  one  but 
Mr.  Emerson."  He  said  of  himself  :  "  My  pul 
pit  is  the  Lyceum  platform."  Knowing  that  he 
made  his  Sermons  contribute  to  his  Lectures, 
we  need  not  mourn  over  their  not  being  re 
ported. 

In  March,  1837,  Emerson  delivered  in  Boston 
a  Lecture  on  War,  afterwards  published  in  Miss 
Peabody's  ".^Esthetic  Papers."  He  recognizes 
war  as  one  of  the  temporary  necessities  of  a  de 
veloping  civilization,  to  disappear  with  the  ad 
vance  of  mankind  :  — 

"  At  a  certain  stage  of  his  progress  the  man  fights, 
if  he  be  of  a  sound  body  and  mind.  At  a  certain 
high  stage  he  makes  no  offensive  demonstration,  but 
is  alert  to  repel  injury,  and  of  an  unconquerable 
heart.  At  a  still  higher  stage  he  comes  into  the  re 
gion  of  holiness  ;  passion  has  passed  away  from  him  ; 
his  warlike  nature  is  all  converted  into  an  active  me 
dicinal  principle  ;  he  sacrifices  himself,  and  accepts 
with  alacrity  wearisome  tasks  of  denial  and  charity; 
but  being  attacked,  he  bears  it,  and  turns  the  other 


'       :TIT  OF  EMERSON'S  BROTHERS.  89 

cheek,  as  one  engaged,  throughout  his  being,  no  longer 
to  the  service  of  an  individual,  but  to  the  common 
good  of  all  men." 

In  1834  Emerson's  brother  Edward  died,  as 
already  mentioned,  in  the  West  India  island 
where  he  had  gone  for  his  health.  In  his  letter 
to  Carlyle,  of  November  12th  of  the  same  year, 
Emerson  says :  "  Your  letter,  which  I  received 
last  week,  made  a  bright  light  in  a  solitary  and 
saddened  place.  I  had  quite  recently  received 
the  news  of  the  death  of  a  brother  in  the  island 
of  Porto  Eico,  whose  loss  to  me  will  be  a  life 
long  sorrow."  It  was  of  him  that  Emerson 
wrote  the  lines  "  In  Memoriam,"  in  which  he 
says,  — 

"  There  is  no  record  left  on  earth 
Save  on  tablets  of  the  heart, 
Of  the  rich,  inherent  worth, 
Of  the  grace  that  on  him  shone 
Of  eloquent  lips,  of  joyful  wit  ; 
He  could  not  frame  a  word  unfit, 
An  act  unworthy  to  be  done." 

Another  bereavement  was  too  soon  to  be  re 
corded.  On  the  7th  of  October,  1835,  he  says 
in  a  letter  to  Carlyle  :  — 

"  I  was  very  glad  to  hear  of  the  brother  you  describe, 
for  I  have  one  too,  and  know  what  it  is  to  have  pres 
ence  in  two  places.  Charles  Chauncy  Emerson  is  a 
lawyer  now  settled  in  this  town,  and,  as  I  believe,  no 


90  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

better  Lord  Hamlet  was  ever.  He  is  our  Doctor  on 
all  questions  of  taste,  manners,  or  action.  And  one 
of  the  pure  pleasures  I  promise  myself  in  the  months 
to  come  is  to  make  you  two  gentlemen  know  each 
other." 

Alas  for  human  hopes  and  prospects !  In 
less  than  a  year  from  the  date  of  that  letter,  on 
the  17th  of  September,  1836,  he  writes  to  Car- 
lyle:  — 

"Your  last  letter,  dated  in  April,  found  me  a 
mourner,  as  did  your  first.  I  have  lost  out  of  this 
world  my  brother  Charles,  of  whom  I  have  spoken  to 
you,  —  the  friend  and  companion  of  many  years,  the 
inmate  of  my  house,  a  man  of  a  beautiful  genius,  born 
to  speak  well,  and  whose  conversation  for  these  last 
years  has  treated  every  grave  question  of  humanity, 
and  has  been  my  daily  bread.  I  have  put  so  much 
dependence  on  his  gifts,  that  we  made  but  one  man 
together  ;  for  I  needed  never  to  do  what  he  could  do 
by  noble  nature,  much  better  than  I.  He  was  to  have 
been  married  in  this  month,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
sickness  and  sudden  death,  I  was  adding  apartments 
to  my  house  for  his  permanent  accommodation.  I 
wish  that  you  could  have  known  him.  At  twenty- 
seven  years  the  best  life  is  only  preparation.  He 
built  his  foundation  so  large  that  it  needed  the  full 
age  of  man  to  make  evident  the  plan  and  proportions 
of  his  character.  He  postponed  always  a  particular 
to  a  final  and  absolute  success,  so  that  his  life  was  a 
silent  appeal  to  the  great  and  generous.  But  some 
time  I  shall  see  you  and  speak  of  him." 


"NATURE."  91 

§  3.  In  the  year  1836  there  was  published  in 
Boston  a  little  book  of  less  than  a  hundred  very 
small  pages,  entitled  "  Nature."  It  bore  no 
name  on  its  title-page,  but  was  at  once  attrib 
uted  to  its  real  author,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

The  Emersonian  adept  will  pardon  me  for  bur 
dening  this  beautiful  Essay  with  a  commentary 
which  is  worse  than  superfluous  for  him.  For 
it  has  proved  for  many,  —  I  will  not  say  a  pons 
asinorum,  — but  a  very  narrow  bridge,  which  it 
made  their  heads  swim  to  attempt  crossing,  and 
yet  they  must  cross  it,  or  one  domain  of  Emer 
son's  intellect  will  not  be  reached. 

It  differed  in  some  respects  from  anything  he 
had  hitherto  written.  It  talked  a  strange  sort  of 
philosophy  in  the  language  of  poetry.  Begin 
ning  simply  enough,  it  took  more  and  more  the 
character  of  a  rhapsody,  until,  as  if  lifted  off  his 
feet  by  the  deepened  and  stronger  undercurrent 
of  his  thought,  the  writer  dropped  his  personality 
and  repeated  the  words  which  "  a  certain  poet 
sang"  to  him. 

This  little  book  met  with  a  very  unemotional 
reception.  Its  style  was  peculiar,  —  almost  as 
unlike  that  of  his  Essays  as  that  of  Carlyle's 
"  Sartor  Resartus  "  was  unlike  the  style  of  his 
"  Life  of  Schiller."  It  was  vague,  mystic,  incom 
prehensible,  to  most  of  those  who  call  themselves 
common-sense  people.  Some  of  its  expressions 


92  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

lent  themselves  easily  to  travesty  and  ridicule. 
But  the  laugh  could  not  be  very  loud  or  Tery 
long,  since  it  took  twelve  years,  as  Mr.  Higgin- 
son  tells  us,  to  sell  five  hundred  copies.  It  was 
a  good  deal  like  Keats's 

"  doubtful  tale  from  fairy-land 
Hard  for  the  non-elect  to  understand." 

The  same  experience  had  been  gone  through  by 
Wordsworth. 

"  Whatever  is  too  original,"  says  De  Quincey, 
"  will  be  hated  at  the  first.  It  must  slowly  mould 
a  public  for  itself  ;  and  the  resistance  of  the  early 
thoughtless  judgments  must  be  overcome  by  a  coun 
ter-resistance  to  itself,  in  a  better  audience  slowly 
mustering  against  the  first.  Forty  and  seven  years 
it  is  since  William  Wordsworth  first  appeared  as 
an  author.  Twenty  of  these  years  he  was  the  scoff 
of  the  world,  and  his  poetry  a  by-word  of  scorn. 
Since  then,  and  more  than  once,  senates  have  rung 
with  acclamations  to  the  echo  of  his  name." 

No  writer  is  more  deeply  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  Wordsworth  than  Emerson,  as  we  can 
not  fail  to  see  in  turning  the  pages  of  "Nature," 
his  first  thoroughly  characteristic  Essay.  There 
is  the  same  thought  in  the  Preface  to  "  The  Ex 
cursion  "  that  we  find  in  the  Introduction  to 
"  Nature." 

"  The  foregoing  generations  beheld  God  and  nature 
face  to  face ;  we  through  their  eyes.  Why  should 


"NATURE."  93 

not  we  also  enjoy  an  original  relation  to  the  universe  ? 
"Why  should  not  we  have  a  poetry  and  philosophy  of 
insight  and  not  of  tradition,  and  a  religion  by  reve 
lation  to  us,  and  not  the  history  of  theirs  ? " 

"  Paradise  and  groves 

Elysian,  Fortunate  Fields  —  like  those  of  old 
Sought  in  the  Atlantic  Main,  why  should  they  be 
A  history  only  of  departed  things, 
Or  a  mere  fiction  of  what  never  was  ?  " 

"  Nature  "  is  a  reflective  prose  poem.  It  is 
divided  into  eight  chapters,  which  might  almost 
as  well  have  been  called  cantos. 

Never  before  had  Mr.  Emerson  given  free  ut 
terance  to  the  passion  with  which  the  aspects  of 
nature  inspired  him.  He  had  recently  for  the 
first  time  been  at  once  master  of  himself  and  in 
free  communion  with  all  the  planetary  influences 
above,  beneath,  around  him.  The  air  of  the 
country  intoxicated  him.  There  are  sentences  in 
"  Nature  "  which  are  as  exalted  as  the  language 
of  one  who  is  just  coming  to  himself  after  hav 
ing  been  etherized.  Some  of  these  expressions 
sounded  to  a  considerable  part  of  his  early  read 
ers  like  the  vagaries  of  delirium.  Yet  underlying 
these  excited  outbursts  there  was  a  general  tone 
of  serenity  which  reassured  the  anxious.  The 
gust  passed  over,  the  ripples  smoothed  themselves, 
and  the  stars  shone  again  in  quiet  reflection. 

After  a  passionate  outbreak,  in  which  he  sees 


94  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

all,  is  nothing,  loses  himself  in  nature,  in  Uni 
versal  Being,  becomes  "  part  or  particle  of  God," 
he  considers  briefly,  in  the  chapter  entitled 
Commodity,  the  ministry  of  nature  to  the  senses. 
A  few  picturesque  glimpses  in  pleasing  and  poet 
ical  phrases,  with  a  touch  of  archaism,  and  remi 
niscences  of  Hamlet  and  Jeremy  Taylor,  "  the 
Shakspeare  of  divines,"  as  he  has  called  him, 
are  what  we  find  in  this  chapter  on  Commodity, 
or  natural  conveniences. 

But  "  a  nobler  want  of  man  is  served  by  Na 
ture,  namely,  the  love  of  Beauty"  which  is  his 
next  subject.  There  are  some  touches  of  de 
scription  here,  vivid,  high-colored,  not  so  much 
pictures  as  hints  and  impressions  for  pictures. 

Many  of  the  thoughts  which  run  through  all 
his  prose  and  poetry  may  be  found  here.  Anal 
ogy  is  seen  everywhere  in  the  works  of  Nature. 
"  What  is  common  to  them  all,  —  that  perfect- 
ness  and  harmony,  is  beauty."  —  "  Nothing  is 
quite  beautiful  alone :  nothing  but  is  beautiful 
in  the  whole."  — "  No  reason  can  be  asked  or 
given  why  the  soul  seeks  beauty."  How  easily 
these  same  ideas  took  on  the  robe  of  verse  may 
be  seen  in  the  Poems,  "  Each  and  All,"  and 
"  The  Rhodora."  A  good  deal  of  his  philoso 
phy  comes  out  in  these  concluding  sentences  of 
the  chapter :  — 

"  Beauty  in  its  largest  and    profoundest  sense  is 


"NATURE."  95 

one  expression  for  the  universe  ;  God  is  the  all-fair. 
Truth  and  goodness  and  heauty  are  but  different 
faces  of  the  same  All.  But  heauty  in  Nature  is 
not  ultimate.  It  is  the  herald  of  inward  and  eter 
nal  beauty,  and  is  not  alone  a  solid  and  satisfactory 
good.  It  must  therefore  stand  as  a  part  and  not  as 
yet  the  highest  expression  of  the  final  cause  of  Na 
ture." 

In  the  "  Rhodora  "  the  flower  is  made  to  an 
swer  that 

"  Beauty  is  its  own  excuse  for  being." 

In  this  Essay  the  beauty  of  the  flower  is  not 
enough,  but  it  must  excuse  itself  for  being, 
mainly  as  the  symbol  of  something  higher  and 
deeper  than  itself. 

He  passes  next  to  a  consideration  of  Language. 
Words  are  signs  of  natural  facts,  particular  ma 
terial  facts  are  symbols  of  particular  spiritual 
facts,  and  Nature  is  the  symbol  of  spirit.  With 
out  going  very  profoundly  into  the  subject,  he 
gives  some  hints  as  to  the  mode  in  which  lan 
guages  are  formed,  —  whence  words  are  derived, 
how  they  become  transformed  and  worn  out. 
But  they  come  at  first  fresh  from  Nature. 

"A  man  conversing  in  earnest,  if  he  watch  his 
intellectual  processes,  will  find  that  always  a  mate 
rial  image,  more  or  less  luminous,  arises  in  his  mind, 
contemporaneous  with  every  thought,  which  furnishes 


96  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

the  vestment  of  the  thought.     Hence   good  writing 
and  brilliant  discourse  are  perpetual  allegories." 

From  this  he  argues  that  country  life  is  a 
great  advantage  to  a  powerful  mind,  inasmuch  as 
it  furnishes  a  greater  number  of  these  material 
images.  They  cannot  be  summoned  at  will,  but 
they  present  themselves  when  great  exigencies 
call  for  them. 

"  The  poet,  the  orator,  bred  in  the  woods,  whose 
senses  have  been  nourished  by  their  fair  and  appeas 
ing  changes,  year  after  year,  without  design  and  with 
out  heed,  —  shall  not  lose  their  lesson  altogether,  in 
the  roar  of  cities  or  the  broil  of  politics.  Long  here 
after,  amidst  agitations  and  terror  in  national  coun 
cils,  —  in  the  hour  of  revolution,  —  these  solemn 
images  shall  reappear  in  their  morning  lustre,  as  fit 
symbols  and  words  of  the  thought  which  the  passing 
events  shall  awaken.  At  the  call  of  a  noble  senti 
ment,  again  the  woods  wave,  the  pines  murmur,  the 
river  rolls  and  shines,  and  the  cattle  low  upon  the 
mountains,  as  he  saw  and  heard  them  in  his  infancy. 
And  with  these  forms  the  spells  of  persuasion,  the 
keys  of  power,  are  put  into  his  hands." 

It  is  doing  no  wrong  to  this  very  eloquent  and 
beautiful  passage  to  say  that  it  reminds  us  of 
certain  lines  in  one  of  the  best  known  poems  of 
Wordsworth :  — 

"  These  beauteous  forms, 
Through  a  long  absence,  have  not  been  to  me 


"NATURE."  97 

As  is  a  landscape  to  a  blind  man's  eye  ; 
But  oft,  in  lonely  rooms,  arid  mid  the  din 
Of  towns  and  cities,  I  have  owed  to  them 
In  hours  of  weariness  sensations  sweet 
Felt  in  the  blood  and  felt  along  the  heart." 

It  is  needless  to  quote  the  whole  passage.  The 
poetry  of  Wordsworth  may  have  suggested  the 
prose  of  Emerson,  but  the  prose  loses  nothing 
by  the  comparison. 

In  Discipline,  which  is  his  next  subject,  he 
treats  of  the  influence  of  Nature  in  educating  the 
intellect,  the  moral  sense,  and  the  will.  Man  is 
enlarged  and  the  universe  lessened  and  brought 
within  his  grasp,  because 

"  Time  and  space  relations  vanish  as  laws  are 
known."  —  "  The  moral  law  lies  at  the  centre  of  Na 
ture  and  radiates  to  the  circumference."  —  "  All  things 
with  which  we  deal  preach  to  us.  What  is  a  farm 
but  a  mute  gospel  ?  "  —  "  From  the  child's  successive 
possession  of  his  several  senses  up  to  the  hour  when 
he  sayeth,  '  Thy  will  be  done  !  '  he  is  learning  the 
secret  that  he  can  reduce  under  his  will,  not  only  par 
ticular  events,  but  great  classes,  nay,  the  whole  series 
of  events,  and  so  conform  all  facts  to  his  character." 

The  unity  in  variety  which  meets  us  every 
where  is  again  referred  to.  He  alludes  to  the 
ministry  of  our  friendships  to  our  education. 
When  a  friend  has  done  for  our  education  in 
the  way  of  filling  our  minds  with  sweet  and  solid 


98  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

wisdom  "  it  is  a  sign  to  us  that  his  office  is 
closing,  and  he  is  commonly  withdrawn  from 
our  sight  in  a  short  time."  This  thought  was 
probably  suggested  by  the  death  of  his  brother 
Charles,  which  occurred  a  few  months  before 
"  Nature "  was  published.  He  had  already 
spoken  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  little  book  as 
if  from  some  recent  experience  of  his  own,  doubt 
less  the  same  bereavement.  "  To  a  man  labor 
ing  under  calamity,  the  heat  of  his  own  fire  hath 
sadness  in  it.  Then  there  is  a  kind  of  contempt 
of  the  landscape  felt  by  him  who  has  just  lost 
by  death  a  dear  friend.  The  sky  is  less  grand 
as  it  shuts  down  over  less  worth  in  the  popula 
tion."  This  was  the  first  effect  of  the  loss ;  but 
after  a  time  he  recognizes  a  superintending 
power  which  orders  events  for  us  in  wisdom 
which  we  could  not  see  at  first. 

The  chapter  on  Idealism  must  be  read  by 
all  who  believe  themselves  capable  of  abstract 
thought,  if  they  would  not  fall  under  the  judg 
ment  of  Turgot,  which  Emerson  quotes :  "  He 
that  has  never  doubted  the  existence  of  matter 
may  be  assured  he  has  no  aptitude  for  meta 
physical  inquiries."  The  most  essential  state 
ment  is  this :  — 

"  It  is  a  sufficient  account  of  that  Appearance  we 
call  the  World,  that  God  will  teach  a  human  mind, 
and  so  makes  it  the  receiver  of  a  certain  number  of 


"NATURE."  99 

congruent  sensations,  which  we  call  sun  and  moon, 
man  and  woman,  house  and  trade.  In  my  utter  im 
potence  to  test  the  authenticity  of  the  report  of  my 
senses,  to  know  whether  the  impressions  they  make 
on  me  correspond  with  outlying  objects,  what  dif 
ference  does  it  make,  whether  Orion  is  up  there  in 
Heaven,  or  some  god  paints  the  image  in  the  firma 
ment  of  the  Soul  ?  " 

We  need  not  follow  the  thought  through  the 
argument  from  illusions,  like  that  when  we  look 
at  the  shore  from  a  moving  ship,  and  others 
which  cheat  the  senses  by  false  appearances. 

The  poet  animates  Nature  with  his  own 
thoughts,  perceives  the  affinities  between  Nature 
and  the  soul,  with  Beauty  as  his  main  end.  The 
philosopher  pursues  Truth,  but,  "  not  less  than 
the  poet,  postpones  the  apparent  order  and  rela 
tion  of  things  to  the  empire  of  thought."  Re 
ligion  and  ethics  agree  with  all  lower  culture  in 
degrading  Nature  and  suggesting  its  dependence 
on  Spirit.  "  The  devotee  flouts  Nature."  — 
"  Plotinus  was  ashamed  of  his  body."  —  "  Michael 
Angelo  said  of  external  beauty,  '  it  is  the  frail 
and  weary  weed,  in  which  God  dresses  the  soul, 
which  He  has  called  into  time.'  "  Emerson  would 
not  undervalue  Nature  as  looked  at  through  the 
senses  and  "  the  unrenewed  understanding."  "  I 
have  no  hostility  to  Nature,"  he  says,  "but  a 
child's  love  of  it.  I  expand  and  live  in  the  warm 


100  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

day  like  corn  and  melons."  —  But,  "seen  in  the 
light  of  thought,  the  world  always  is  phenom 
enal ;  and  virtue  subordinates  it  to.  the  mind. 
Idealism  sees  the  world  in  God,"  —  as  one  vast 
picture,  which  God  paints  on  the  instant  eternity, 
for  the  contemplation  of  the  soul. 

The  unimaginative  reader  is  likely  to  find 
himself  off  soundings  in  the  next  chapter,  which 
has  for  its  title  Spirit. 

Idealism  only  denies  the  existence  of  matter  ; 
it  does  not  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  spirit. 
"  It  leaves  God  out  of  me."  —  Of  these  three 
questions,  What  is  matter  ?  Whence  is  it  ? 
Where  to  ?  The  ideal  theory  answers  the  first 
only.  The  reply  is  that  matter  is  a  phenome 
non,  not  a  substance. 

"  But  when  we  come  to  inquire  Whence  is  matter  ? 
and  Whereto  ?  many  truths  arise  to  us  out  of  the  re 
cesses  of  consciousness.  We  learn  that  the  highest 
is  present  to  the  soul  of  man,  that  the  dread  universal 
essence,  which  is  not  wisdom,  or  love,  or  beauty,  or 
power,  but  all  in  one,  and  each  entirely,  is  that  for 
which  all  things  exist,  and  that  by  which  they  are  ; 
that  spirit  creates ;  that  behind  nature,  throughout 
nature,  spirit  is  present ;  that  spirit  is  one  and  not 
compound ;  that  spirit  does  not  act  upon  us  from 
without,  that  is,  in  space  and  time,  but  spiritually,  or 
through  ourselves."  —  "  As  a  plant  upon  the  earth, 
so  a  man  rests  upon  the  bosom  of  God  ;  he  is  nour- 


"NATURE."  101 

ished  by  unfailing  fountains,  and  draws,  at  his  need, 
inexhaustible  power." 

Man  may  have  access  to  the  entire  mind  of  the 
Creator,  himself  become  a  "  creator  in  the  fin 
ite." 

"As  we  degenerate,  the  contrast  between  us  and 
our  house  is  more  evident.  We  are  as  much  stran 
gers  in  nature  as  we  are  aliens  from  God.  We  do  not 
understand  the  notes  of  birds.  The  fox  and  the  deer 
run  away  from  us;  the  bear  and  the  tiger  rend  us." 

All  this  has  an  Old  Testament  sound  as  of  a 
lost  Paradise.  In  the  next  chapter  he  dreams 
of  Paradise  regained. 

This  next  and  last  chapter  is  entitled  Pros 
pects.  He  begins  with  a  bold  claim  for  the  prov 
ince  of  intuition  as  against  induction,  underval 
uing  the  "  half  sight  of  science  "  as  against  the 
"  untaught  sallies  of  the  spirit,"  the  surmises 
and  vaticinations  of  the  mind,  —  the  "  imperfect 
theories,  and  sentences  which  contain  glimpses 
of  truth."  In  a  word,  he  would  have  us  leave 
the  laboratory  and  its  crucibles  for  the  sibyl's 
cave  and  its  tripod.  We  can  all  —  or  most  of 
us,  certainly  —  recognize  something  of  truth, 
much  of  imagination,  and  more  of  danger  in 
speculations  of  this  sort.  They  belong  to  vis 
ionaries  and  to  poets.  Emerson  feels  distinctly 
enough  that  he  is  getting  into  the  realm  of 


102  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

poetry.  He  quotes  five  beautiful  verses  from 
George  Herbert's  "  Poem  on  Man."  Presently 
he  is  himself  taken  off  his  feet  into  the  air  of 
song,  and  finishes  his  Essay  with  "  some  tradi 
tions  of  man  arid  nature  which  a  certain  poet 
sang  to  me."  —  "A  man  is  a  god  in  ruins."  — 
"  Man  is  the  dwarf  of  himself.  Once  he  was 
permeated  and  dissolved  by  spirit.  He  filled 
nature  with  his  overflowing  currents.  Out  from 
him  sprang  the  sun  and  moon ;  from  man  the 
sun,  from  woman  the  moon." — But  he  no  longer 
fills  the  mere  shell  he  had  made  for  himself ; 
"  he  is  shrunk  to  a  drop."  Still  something  of  ele 
mental  power  remains  to  him.  "  It  is  instinct." 
Such  teachings  he  got  from  his  "  poet."  It  is 
a  kind  of  New  England  Genesis  in  place  of  the 
Old  Testament  one.  We  read  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount :  "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect  as  your 
Father  in  Heaven  is  perfect."  The  discourse 
which  comes  to  us  from  the  Trimount  oracle 
commands  us,  "  Build,  therefore,  your  own  world. 
As  fast  as  you  conform  your  life  to  the  pure 
idea  in  your  mind,  that  will  unfold  its  great  pro 
portions."  The  seer  of  Patmos  foretells  a  heav 
enly  Jerusalem,  of  which  he  says,  "  There  shall 
in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  which  defileth." 
The  sage  of  Concord  foresees  a  new  heaven  on 
earth.  "  A  correspondent  revolution  in  things 
will  attend  the  influx  of  the  spirit.  So  fast  will 


"NATURE."  103 

disagreeable  appearances,  swine,  spiders,  snakes, 
pests,  mad-houses,  prisons,  enemies,  vanish  ;  they 
are  temporary  and  shall  be  no  more  seen." 

It  may  be  remembered  that  Calvin,  in  his 
Commentary  on  the  New  Testament,  stopped 
when  he  came  to  the  book  of  the  "  Revelation." 
He  found  it  full  of  difficulties  which  he  did  not 
care  to  encounter.  Yet,  considered  only  as  a 
poem,  the  vision  of  St.  John  is  full  of  noble  im 
agery  and  wonderful  beauty.  "  Nature  "  is  the 
Book  of  Revelation  of  our  Saint  Radulphus.  It 
has  its  obscurities,  its  extravagances,  but  as  a 
poem  it  is  noble  and  inspiring.  It  was  objected 
to  on  the  score  of  its  pantheistic  character,  as 
Wordsworth's  "  Lines  composed  near  Tintern 
Abbey  "  had  been  long  before.  But  here  and 
there  it  found  devout  readers  who  were  capti 
vated  by  its  spiritual  elevation  and  great  poet 
ical  beauty,  among  them  one  who  wrote  of  it  in 
the  "  Democratic  Review  "  in  terms  of  enthusi 
astic  admiration. 

Mr.  Bowen,  the  Professor  of  Natural  Theol 
ogy  and  Moral  Philosophy  in  Harvard  Univer 
sity,  treated  this  singular  semi  -  philosophical, 
semi-poetical  little  book  in  a  long  article  in  the 
"Christian  Examiner,"  headed  "Transcenden 
talism,"  and  published  in  the  January  number 
for  1837.  The  acute  and  learned  Professor 


104  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

meant  to  deal  fairly  with  his  subject.  But  if 
one  has  ever  seen  a  sagacious  pointer  making  the 
acquaintance  of  a  box-tortoise,  he  will  have  an 
idea  of  the  relations  between  the  reviewer  and 
the  reviewed  as  they  appear  in  this  article.  The 
professor  turns  the  book  over  and  over,  —  in 
spects  it  from  plastron  to  carapace,  so  to  speak, 
and  looks  for  openings  everywhere,  sometimes 
successfully,  sometimes  in  vain.  He  finds  good 
writing  and  sound  philosophy,  passages  of  great 
force  and  beauty  of  expression,  marred  by  ob 
scurity,  under  assumptions  and  faults  of  style. 
He  was  not,  any  more  than  the  rest  of  us,  accli 
mated  to  the  Emersonian  atmosphere,  and  after 
some  not  unjust  or  unkind  comments  with  which 
many  readers  will  heartily  agree,  confesses  his 
bewilderment,  saying :  — 

"  On  reviewing  what  we  have  already  said  of  this 
singular  work,  the  criticism  seems  to  be  couched  in 
contradictory  terms  ;  we  can  only  allege  in  excuse  the 
fact  that  the  book  is  a  contradiction  in  itself." 

Carlyle  says  in  his  letter  of  February  13, 
1837:  — 

"  Your  little  azure-colored  '  Nature  '  gave  me  true 
satisfaction.  I  read  it,  and  then  lent  it  about  to  all 
my  acquaintances  that  had  a  sense  for  such  things ; 
from  whom  a  similar  verdict  always  came  back.  You 
say  it  is  the  first  chapter  of  something  greater.  I 
call  it  rather  the  Foundation  and  Ground-plan  on 


"NATURE."  105 

which  you  may  build  whatsoever  of  great  and  true  has 
been  given  you  to  build.  It  is  the  true  Apocalypse, 
this  when  the  '  Open  Secret '  becomes  revealed  to  a 
man.  I  rejoice  much  in  the  glad  serenity  of  soul 
with  which  you  look  out  on  this  wondrous  Dwelling- 
place  of  yours  and  mine,  —  with  an  ear  for  the 
Ewigen  Melodien,  which  pipe  in  the  winds  round  us, 
and  utter  themselves  forth  in  all  sounds  and  sights 
and  things  ;  not  to  be  written  down  by  gamut-ma 
chinery  ;  but  which  all  right  writing  is  a  kind  of  at 
tempt  to  write  down." 

The  first  edition  of  "  Nature  "  had  prefixed 
to  it  the  following  words  from  Plotinus  :  "  Na 
ture  is  but  an  image  or  imitation  of  wisdom,  the 
last  thing  of  the  soul ;  Nature  being  a  thing 
which  cloth  only  do,  but  not  know."  This  is 
omitted  in  after  editions,  and  in  its  place  we 

read :  — 

"  A  subtle  chain  of  countless  rings 
The  next  unto  the  farthest  brings  ; 
The  eye  reads  omens  where  it  goes, 
And  speaks  all  languages  the  rose  ; 
And  striving  to  be  man,  the  worm 
Mounts  through  all  the  spires  of  form." 

The  copy  of  "  Nature  "  from  which  I  take  these 
lines,  his  own,  of  course,  like  so  many  others 
which  lie  prefixed  to  his  different  Essays,  was 
printed  in  the  year  1849,  ten  years  before  the 
publication  of  Darwin's  "  Origin  of  Species," 
twenty  years  and  more  before  the  publication  of 


106  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  The  Descent  of  Man."  But  the  "  Vestiges  of 
Creation,"  published  in  1844,  had  Already  pop 
ularized  the  resuscitated  theories  of  Lamarck. 
It  seems  as  if  Emerson  had  a  warning  from  the 
poetic  instinct  which,  when  it  does  not  precede 
the  movement  of  the  scientific  intellect,  is  the 
first  to  catch  the  hint  of  its  discoveries.  There 
is  nothing  more  audacious  in  the  poet's  concep 
tion  of  the  worm  looking  up  towards  humanity, 
than  the  naturalist's  theory  that  the  progenitor 
of  the  human  race  was  an  acephalous  mollusk. 
"  I  will  not  be  sworn,"  says  Benedick,  "  but 
love  may  transform  me  to  an  oyster."  For 
"  love  "  read  science. 

Unity  in  variety,  "  il  piu  nell  uno"  symbolism, 
of  Nature  and  its  teachings,  generation  of  phe 
nomena,  —  appearances,  —  from  spirit,  to  which 
they  correspond  and  which  they  obey  ;  evolution 
of  the  best  and  elimination  of  the  worst  as  the 
law  of  being ;  all  this  and  much  more  may  be 
found  in  the  poetic  utterances  of  this  slender 
Essay.  It  fell  like  an  aerolite,  unasked  for,  un 
accounted  for,  unexpected,  almost  unwelcome,  — 
a  stumbling-block  to  be  got  out  of  the  well-trod 
den  highway  of  New  England  scholastic  intelli 
gence.  But  here  and  there  it  found  a  reader  to 
whom  it  was,  to  borrow,  with  slight  changes,  its 

own  quotation,  — 

"  The  golden  key 
Which  opes  the  palace  of  eternity," 


"THE  AMERICAN   SCHOLAR"  107 

inasmuch  as  it  carried  upon  its  face  the  highest 
certificate  of  truth,  because  it  animated  them 
to  create  a  new  world  for  themselves  through 
the  purification  of  their  own  souls. 

Next  to  "  Nature  "  in  the  series  of  his  collected 
publications  comes  "  The  American  Scholar.  An 
Oration  delivered  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society  at  Cambridge,  August  31,  1837." 

The  Society  known  by  these  three  letters,  long 
a  mystery  to  the  uninitiated,  but  which,  filled  out 
and  interpreted,  signify  that  philosophy  is  the 
guide  of  life,  is  one  of  long  standing,  the  annual 
meetings  of  which  have  called  forth  the  best  ef 
forts  of  many  distinguished  scholars  and  think 
ers.  Rarely  has  any  one  of  the  annual  addresses 
been  listened  to  with  such  profound  attention 
and  interest.  Mr.  Lowell  says  of  it,  that  its  de 
livery  "  was  an  event  without  any  former  par 
allel  in  our  literary  annals,  a  scene  to  be  always 
treasured  in  the  memory  for  its  picturesqueness 
and  its  inspiration.  What  crowded  and  breath 
less  aisles,  what  windows  clustering  with  eager 
heads,  what  enthusiasm  of  approval,  what  grim 
silence  of  foregone  dissent !  " 

Mr.  Cooke  says  truly  of  this  oration,  that 
nearly  all  his  leading  ideas  found  expression  in  it. 
This  was  to  be  expected  in  an  address  delivered 
before  such  an  audience.  Every  real  thinker's 


108  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

world  of  thought  has  its  centre  in  a  few  for 
mulae,  about  which  they  revolve  as  the  planets 
circle  round  the  sun  which  cast  them  off.  But 
those  who  lost  themselves  now  and  then  in  the 
pages  of  "  Nature  "  will  find  their  way  clearly 
enough  through  those  of  "  The  American  Schol 
ar."  It  is  a  plea  for  generous  culture ;  for  the 
development  of  all  the  faculties,  many  of  which 
tend  to  become  atrophied  by  the  exclusive  pur 
suit  of  single  objects  of  thought.  It  begins  with 
a  note  like  a  trumpet  call. 

"  Thus  far,"  he  says,  "  our  holiday  has  been  simply 
a  friendly  sign  of  the  survival  of  the  love  of  letters 
amongst  a  people  too  busy  to  give  to  letters  any  more. 
As  such  it  is  precious  as  the  sign  of  an  indestructible 
instinct.  Perhaps  the  time  is  already  come  when  it 
ought  to  be,  and  will  be,  something  else  ;  when  the 
sluggard  intellect  of  this  continent  will  look  from  un 
der  its  iron  lids  and  fill  the  postponed  expectations  of 
the  world  with  something  better  than  the  exertions  of 
mechanical  skill.  Our  day  of  dependence,  our  long 
apprenticeship  to  the  learning  of  other  lands,  draws 
to  a  close.  The  millions  that  around  us  are  rushing 
into  life  cannot  always  be  fed  on  the  sere  remains  of 
foreign  harvests.  Events,  actions  arise,  that  must  be 
sung,  that  will  sing  themselves.  Who  can  doubt  that 
poetry  will  revive  and  lead  in  a  new  age,  as  the  star 
in  the  constellation  Harp,  which  now  flames  in  our 
zenith,  astronomers  announce  shall  one  day  be  the 
pole-star  for  a  thousand  years  ?  " 


"THE  AMERICAN  SCHOLAR."  109 

Emerson  finds  his  text  in  the  old  fable  which 
tells  that  Man,  as  he  was  in  the  beginning,  was 
divided  into  men,  as  the  hand  was  divided  into 
fingers,  the  better  to  answer  the  end  of  his  being. 
The  fable  covers  the  doctrine  that  there  is  One 
Man ;  present  to  individuals  only  in  a  partial 
manner ;  and  that  we  must  take  the  whole  of  so 
ciety  to  find  the  whole  man.  Unfortunately  the 
unit  has  been  too  minutely  subdivided,  and  many 
faculties  are  practically  lost  for  want  of  use. 
"  The  state  of  society  is  one  in  which  the  mem 
bers  have  suffered  amputation  from  the  trunk, 
and  strut  about  so  many  walking  monsters, — 
a  good  finger,  a  neck,  a  stomach,  an  elbow,  but 
never  a  man.  .  .  .  Man  is  thus  metamorphosed 
into  a  thing,  into  many  things.  .  .  .  The  priest 
becomes  a  form ;  the  attorney  a  statute  book ; 
the  mechanic  a  machine ;  the  sailor  a  rope  of 
the  ship." 

This  complaint  is  by  no  means  a  new  one. 
Scaliger  says,  as  quoted  by  omnivorous  old  Bur 
ton:  "  Nequaquam  nos  homines  sumus  sedpar- 
tes  hominis."  The  old  illustration  of  this  used 
to  be  found  in  pin-making.  It  took  twenty  dif 
ferent  workmen  to  make  a  pin,  beginning  with 
.drawing  the  wire  and  ending  with  sticking  in  the 
paper.  Each  expert,  skilled  in  one  small  per 
formance  only,  was  reduced  to  a  minute  fraction 
of  a  fraction  of  humanity.  If  the  complaint 


110  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

was  legitimate  in  Scaliger's  time,  it  was  better 
founded  half  a  century  ago  when  Mr.  Emerson 
found  cause  for  it.  It  has  still  more  serious 
significance  to-day,  when  in  every  profession,  in 
every  branch  of  human  knowledge,  special  ac 
quirements,  special  skill  have  greatly  tended  to 
limit  the  range  of  men's  thoughts  and  working 
faculties. 

"  In  this  distribution  of  functions  the  scholar  is  the 
delegated  intellect.  In  the  right  state  he  is  Man 
thinking.  In  the  degenerate  state,  when  the  victim 
of  society,  he  tends  to  become  a  mere  thinker,  or  still 
worse,  the  parrot  of  other  men's  thinking.  In  this 
view  of  him,  as  Man  thinking,  the  theory  of  his  office 
is  continued.  Him  Nature  solicits  with  all  her  placid, 
all  her  monitory  pictures ;  him  the  past  instructs ; 
him  the  future  invites." 

Emerson  proceeds  to  describe  and  illustrate 
the  influences  of  nature  upon  the  mind,  return 
ing  to  the  strain  of  thought  with  which  his  pre 
vious  Essay  has  made  us  familiar.  He  next  con 
siders  the  influence  of  the  past,  and  especially  of 
books  as  the  best  type  of  that  influence.  "  Books 
are  the  best  of  things  well  used ;  abused  among 
the  worst."  It  is  hard  to  distil  what  is  already 
a  quintessence  without  loss  of  what  is  just  as 
good  as  the  product  of  our  labor.  A  sentence 
or  two  may  serve  to  give  an  impression  of  the 
epigrammatic  wisdom  of  his  counsel. 


"  THE  AMERICAN  SCHOLAR."  Ill 

"  Each  age  must  write  its  own  books,  or,  rather, 
each  generation  for  the  next  succeeding.  The  books 
of  an  older  period  will  not  fit  this." 

When  a  book  has  gained  a  certain  hold  on 
the  mind,  it  is  liable  to  become  an  object  of  idol 
atrous  regard. 

"  Instantly  the  book  becomes  noxious :  the  guide  is 
a  tyrant.  The  sluggish  and  perverted  mind  of  the 
multitude,  slow  to  open  to  the  incursions  of  reason, 
having  once  so  opened,  having  received  this  book, 
stands  upon  it  and  makes  an  outcry  if  it  is  dispar 
aged.  Colleges  are  built  on  it.  Books  are  written 
on  it  by  thinkers,  not  by  Man  thinking ;  by  men  of 
talent,  that  is,  who  start  wrong,  who  set  out  from  ac 
cepted  dogmas,  not  from  their  own  sight  of  princi 
ple.  Meek  young  men  grow  up  in  libraries,  believing 
it  their  duty  to  accept  the  views  which  Cicero,  which 
Locke,  which  Bacon  have  given  ;  forgetful  that  Cicero, 
Locke,  and  Bacon  were  only  young  men  in  libraries 
when  they  wrote  these  books.  —  One  must  be  an  in 
ventor  to  read  well.  As  the  proverb  says,  '  He  that 
would  bring  home  the  wealth  of  the  Indies  must 
carry  out  the  wealth  of  the  Indies.'  —  When  the  mind 
is  braced  by  labor  and  invention,  the  page  of  what 
ever  book  we  read  becomes  luminous  with  manifold 
allusion.  Every  sentence  is  doubly  significant,  and 
the  sense  of  our  author  is  as  broad  as  the  world." 

It  is  not  enough  that  the  scholar  should  be  a 
student  of  nature  and  of  books.  He  must  take 
a  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  about  him. 


112  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  Action  is  with  the  scholar  subordinate,  but  it  is 
essential.  Without  it  he  is  not  yet  man.  Without 
it  thought  can  never  ripen  into  truth.  —  The  true 
scholar  grudges  every  opportunity  of  action  past  by, 
as  a  loss  of  power.  It  is  the  raw  material  out  of 
which  the  intellect  moulds  her  splendid  products.  A 
strange  process,  too,  this  by  which  experience  is  con 
verted  into  thought  as  a  mulberry  leaf  is  converted 
into  satin.  The  manufacture  goes  forward  at  all 
hours-" 

Emerson  does  not  use  the  words  "  unconscious 
cerebration,"  but  these  last  words  describe  the 
process  in  an  unmistakable  way.  The  beautiful 
paragraph  in  which  he  pictures  the  transforma 
tion,  the  transfiguration  of  experience,  closes 
with  a  sentence  so  thoroughly  characteristic,  so 
Emersonially  Emersonian,  that  I  fear  some  read 
ers  who  thought  they  were  his  disciples  when 
they  came  to  it  went  back  and  walked  no  more 
with  him,  at  least  through  the  pages  of  this  dis 
course.  The  reader  shall  have  the  preceding 
sentence  to  prepare  him  for  the  one  referred  to. 

"  There  is  no  fact,  no  event  in  our  private  history, 
which  shall  not,  sooner  or  later,  lose  its  adhesive,  inert 
form,  and  astonish  us  by  soaring  from  our  body  into 
the  empyrean. 

"  Cradle  and  infancy,  school  and  playground,  the 
fear  of  boys,  and  dogs,  and  ferules,  the  love  of  little 
maids  and  berries,  and  many  another  fact  that  once 


"  THE  AMERICAN  SCHOLAR."  113 

filled  the  whole  sky,  are  gone  already ;  friend  and 
relative,  professions  and  party,  town  and  country, 
nation  and  world  must  also  soar  and  sing." 

Having  spoken  of  the  education  of  the  scholar 
by  nature,  by  books,  by  action,  he  speaks  of  the 
scholar's  duties.  "  They  may  all,"  he  says,  "  be 
comprised  in  self -trust."  We  have  to  remember 
that  the  self  he  means  is  the  highest  self,  that 
consciousness  which  he  looks  upon  as  open  to 
the  influx  of  the  divine  essence  from  which  it 
came,  and  towards  which  all  its  upward  tenden 
cies  lead,  always  aspiring,  never  resting ;  as  he 
sings  in  "  The  Sphinx  "  :  — 

"  The  heavens  that  now  draw  him 

With  sweetness  untold, 
Once  found,  —  for  new  heavens 
He  spurneth  the  old." 

"  First  one,  then  another,  we  drain  all  cisterns,  and 
waxing  greater  by  all  these  supplies,  we  crave  a  bet 
ter  and  more  abundant  food.  The  man  has  never 
lived  that  can  feed  us  ever.  The  human  mind  can 
not  be  enshrined  in  a  person  who  shall  set  a  barrier 
on  any  one  side  of  this  unbounded,  unboundable  em 
pire.  It  is  one  central  fire,  which,  flaming  now  out  of 
the  lips  of  Etna,  lightens  the  Capes  of  Sicily,  and  now 
out  of  the  throat  of  Vesuvius,  illuminates  the  towers 
and  vineyards  of  Naples.  It  is  one  light  which  beams 
out  of  a  thousand  stars.  It  is  one  soul  which  ani 
mates  all  men." 
8 


114  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

And  so  he  comes  to  the  special  application  of 
the  principles  he  has  laid  down  to  the  American 
scholar  of  to-day.  He  does  not  spare  his  cen 
sure  ;  he  is  full  of  noble  trust  and  manly  cour 
age.  Very  refreshing  it  is  to  remember  in  this 
day  of  specialists,  when  the  walking  fraction  of 
humanity  he  speaks  of  would  hardly  include  a 
whole  finger,  but  rather  confine  itself  to  the  sin 
gle  joint  of  the  finger,  such  words  as  these :  — 

"  The  scholar  is  that  man  who  must  take  up  into 
himself  all  the  ability  of  the  time,  all  the  contributions 
of  the  past,  all  the  hopes  of  the  future.  He  must  be 
a  university  of  knowledges.  .  .  .  We  have  listened  too 
long  to  the  courtly  muses  of  Europe.  The  spirit  of 
the  American  freeman  is  already  suspected  to  be  timid, 
imitative,  tame. — The  scholar  is  decent,  indolent,  com 
plaisant. —  The  mind  of  this  country,  taught  to  aim  at 
low  objects,  eats  upon  itself.  There  is  no  work  for 
any  but  the  decorous  and  the  complaisant." 

The  young  men  of  promise  are  discouraged 
and  disgusted. 

"  What  is  the  remedy  ?  They  did  not  yet  see,  and 
thousands  of  young  men  as  hopeful  now  crowding  to 
the  barriers  for  the  career  do  not  yet  see,  that  if  the 
single  man  plant  himself  indomitably  on  his  instincts, 
and  there  abide,  the  huge  world  will  come  round  to 
him." 

Each  man  must  be  a  unit,  —  must  yield  that 
peculiar  fruit  which  he  was  created  to  bear. 


"THE  AMERICAN  SCHOLAR."  115 

"  We  will  walk  on  our  own  feet ;  we  will  work  with 
our  own  hands  ;  we  will  speak  our  own  minds.  —  A 
nation  of  men  will  for  the  first  time  exist,  because 
each  believes  himself  inspired  by  the  Divine  Soul 
which  also  inspires  all  men." 

This  grand  Oration  was  our  intellectual  Dec 
laration  of  Independence.  Nothing  like  it  had 
been  heard  in  the  halls  of  Harvard  since  Sam 
uel  Adams  supported  the  affirmative  of  the  ques 
tion,  "  Whether  it  be  lawful  to  resist  the  chief 
magistrate,  if  the  commonwealth  cannot  other 
wise  be  preserved."  It  was  easy  to  find  fault  with 
an  expression  here  and  there.  The  dignity,  not 
to  say  the  formality  of  an  Academic  assembly 
was  startled  by  the  realism  that  looked  for  the 
infinite  in  "  the  meal  in  the  firkin  ;  the  milk 
in  the  pan."  They  could  understand  the  deep 
thoughts  suggested  by  "  the  meanest  flower  that 
blows,"  but  these  domestic  illustrations  had  a 
kind  of  nursery  homeliness  about  them  which 
the  grave  professors  and  sedate  clergymen  were 
unused  to  expect  on  so  stately  an  occasion.  But 
the  young  men  went  out  from  it  as  if  a  prophet 
had  been  proclaiming  to  them  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord."  No  listener  ever  forgot  that  Address, 
and  among  all  the  noble  utterances  of  the  speaker 
it  may  be  questioned  if  one  ever  contained  more 
truth  in  language  more  like  that  of  immediate 
inspiration. 


CHAPTER  V. 

1838-1843.    MT.  35^0. 


§  1.  Divinity  School  Address.  —  Correspondence.  —  Lectures 
on  Human  Life.  —  Letters  to  James  Freeman  Clarke.  — 
Dartmouth  College  Address  :  Literary  Ethics.  —  Waterville 
College  Address  :  The  Method  of  Nature.  —  Other  Ad 
dresses  :  Man  the  Reformer.  —  Lecture  on  the  Times.  — 
The  Conservative.  —  The  Transcendentalist.  —  Boston 
"  Transcendentalism."  —  "  The  Dial."  —  Brook  Farm. 

§  2.  First  Series  of  Essays  published.  —  Contents  :  History, 
Self-Reliance,  Compensation,  Spiritual  Laws,  Love,  Friend 
ship,  Prudence,  Heroism,  The  Oversoul,  Circles,  Intellect, 
Art.  —  Emerson's  Account  of  his  Mode  of  Life  in  a  Letter 
to  Carlyle.  —  Death  of  Emerson's  Son.  —  Threnody. 

§  1.  ON  Sunday  evening,  July  15,  1838,  Em 
erson  delivered  an  Address  before  the  Senior 
Class  in  Divinity  College,  Cambridge,  which 
caused  a  profound  sensation  in  religious  circles, 
and  led  to  a  controversy,  in  which  Emerson  had 
little  more  than  the  part  of  Patroclus  when  the 
Greeks  and  Trojans  fought  over  his  body.  In  its 
simplest  and  broadest  statement  this  discourse 
was  a  plea  for  the  individual  consciousness  as 
against  all  historical  creeds,  bibles,  churches  ; 
for  the  soul  as  the  supreme  judge  in  spiritual 
matters. 

He  begins  with  a  beautiful  picture  which  must 


DIVINITY  SCHOOL  ADDRESS.  117 

be  transferred  without  the  change  of  an  expres 
sion  :  — 

"  In  this  refulgent  Summer,  it  has  been  a  luxury 
to  draw  the  breath  of  life.  The  grass  grows,  the  buds 
burst,  the  meadow  is  spotted  with  fire  and  gold  in  the 
tint  of  flowers.  The  air  is  full  of  birds,  and  sweet 
with  the  breath  of  the  pine,  the  balm  of  Gilead,  and 
the  new  hay.  Night  brings  no  gloom  to  the  heart 
with  its  welcome  shade.  Through  the  transparent 
darkness  the  stars  pour  their  almost  spiritual  rays. 
Man  under  them  seems  a  young  child,  and  his  huge 
globe  a  toy.  The  cool  night  bathes  the  world  as  with 
a  river,  and  prepares  his  eyes  again  for  the  crimson 
dawn." 

How  softly  the  phrases  of  the  gentle  icono 
clast  steal  upon  the  ear,  and  how  they  must  have 
hushed  the  questioning  audience  into  pleased  at 
tention  !  The  "  Song  of  Songs,  which  is  Solo 
mon's,"  could  not  have  wooed  the  listener  more 
sweetly.  "  Thy  lips  drop  as  the  honeycomb  : 
honey  and  milk  are  under  thy  tongue,  and  the 
smell  of  thy  garments  is  like  the  smell  of  Leb 
anon."  And  this  was  the  prelude  of  a  discourse 
which,  when  it  came  to  be  printed,  fared  at  the 
hands  of  many  a  theologian,  who  did  not  think 
himself  a  bigot,  as  the  roll  which  Baruch  wrote 
with  ink  from  the  words  of  Jeremiah  fared  at 
the  hands  of  Jehoiakim,  the  King  of  Judah.  He 
listened  while  Jehudi  read  the  opening  passages. 


118  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

But  "  when  Jehudi  had  read  three  or  four  leaves 
he  cut  it  with  the  penknife,  and  cast  it  into  the 
fire  that  was  on  the  hearth,  until  all  the  roll  was 
consumed  in  the  fire  that  was  on  the  hearth." 
Such  was  probably  the  fate  of  many  a  copy  of 
this  famous  discourse. 

It  is  reverential,  but  it  is  also  revolutionary. 
The  file-leaders  of  Uuitarianism  drew  back  in 
dismay,  and  the  ill  names  which  had  often  been 
applied  to  them  were  now  heard  from  their  own 
lips  as  befitting  this  new  heresy ;  if  so  mild  a  re 
proach  as  that  of  heresy  belonged  to  this  alarm 
ing  manifesto.  And  yet,  so  changed  is  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  theological  world  since  the  time 
when  that  discourse  was  delivered  that  it  is  read 
as  calmly  to-day  as  a  common  "  Election  Ser 
mon,"  if  such  are  ever  read  at  all.  A  few  ex 
tracts,  abstracts,  and  comments  may  give  the 
reader  who  has  not  the  Address  before  him  some 
idea  of  its  contents  and  its  tendencies. 

The  material  universe,  which  he  has  just  pic 
tured  in  its  summer  beauty,  deserves  our  admi 
ration.  But  when  the  mind  opens  and  reveals 
the  laws  which  govern  the  world  of  phenomena, 
it  shrinks  into  a  mere  fable  and  illustration  of 
this  mind.  What  am  I  ?  What  is  ?  —  are  ques 
tions  always  asked,  never  fully  answered.  We 
would  study  and  admire  forever. 

But  above  intellectual  curiosity,  there  is  the 


DIVINITY  SCHOOL  ADDRESS.  119 

sentiment  of  virtue.  Man  is  born  for  the  good, 
for  the  perfect,  low  as  he  now  lies  in  evil  and 
weakness.  "  The  sentiment  of  virtue  is  a  rever 
ence  and  delight  in  the  presence  of  certain  di 
vine  laws.  —  These  laws  refuse  to  be  adequately 
stated.  — They  elude  our  persevering  thought ; 
yet  we  read  them  hourly  in  each  other's  faces, 
in  each  other's  actions,  in  our  own  remorse.  — 
The  intuition  of  the  moral  sentiment  is  an  in 
sight  of  the  perfection  of  the  laws  of  the  soul. 
These  laws  execute  themselves.  —  As  we  are,  so 
we  associate.  The  good,  by  affinity,  seek  the 
good ;  the  vile,  by  affinity,  the  vile.  Thus,  of 
their  own  volition,  souls  proceed  into  heaven, 
into  hell." 

These  facts,  Emerson  says,  have  always  sug 
gested  to  man  that  the  world  is  the  product  not 
of  manifold  power,  but  of  one  will,  of  one  mind, 
—  that  one  mind  is  everywhere  active.  —  "  All 
things  proceed  out  of  the  same  spirit,  and  all 
things  conspire  with  it."  While  a  man  seeks 
good  ends,  nature  helps  him  ;  when  he  seeks 
other  ends,  his  being  shrinks,  "  he  becomes  less 
and  less,  a  mote,  a  point,  until  absolute  badness 
is  absolute  death."  —  "  When  he  says  '  I  ought ; ' 
when  love  warms  him  ;  when  he  chooses,  warned 
from  on  high,  the  good  and  great  deed  ;  then 
deep  melodies  wander  through  his  soul  from  Su 
preme  Wisdom." 


120  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  This  sentiment  lies  at  the  foundation  of  society 
and  successively  creates  all  forms  of  worship.  —  This 
thought  dwelled  always  deepest  in  the  minds  of  men 
in  the  devout  and  contemplative  East ;  not  alone  in 
Palestine,  where  it  reached  its  purest  expression, 
but  in  Egypt,  in  Persia,  in  India,  in  China.  Europe 
has  always  owed  to  Oriental  genius  its  divine  im 
pulses.  What  these  holy  hards  said,  all  sane  men 
found  agreeable  and  true.  And  the  unique  impres 
sion  of  Jesus  upon  mankind,  whose  name  is  not  so 
much  written  as  ploughed  into  the  history  of  this 
world,  is  proof  of  the  subtle  virtue  of  this  infusion." 

But  this  truth  cannot  be  received  at  second 
hand ;  it  is  an  intuition.  What  another  an 
nounces,  I  must  find  true  in  myself,  or  I  must 
reject  it.  If  the  word  of  another  is  taken  in 
stead  of  this  primary  faith,  the  church,  the  state, 
art,  letters,  life,  all  suffer  degradation,  —  "  the 
doctrine  of  inspiration  is  lost ;  the  base  doctrine 
of  the  majority  of  voices  usurps  the  place  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  soul." 

The  following  extract  will  show  the  view  that 
he  takes  of  Christianity  and  its  Founder,  and 
sufficiently  explain  the  antagonism  called  forth 
by  the  discourse :  — 

"  Jesus  Christ  belonged  to  the  true  race  of  proph 
ets.  He  saw  with  open  eye  the  mystery  of  the  soul. 
Drawn  by  its  severe  harmony,  ravished  with  its 
beauty,  he  lived  in  it,  and  had  his  being  there.  Alone 


DIVINITY  SCHOOL  ADDRESS.  121 

in  all  history  he  estimated  the  greatness  of  man.  One 
man  was  true  to  what  is  in  you  and  me.  He  saw 
that  God  incarnates  himself  in  man,  and  evermore 
goes  forth  anew  to  take  possession  of  his  World.  He 
said,  in  this  jubilee  of  sublime  emotion,  '  I  am  Di 
vine.  Through  me  God  acts ;  through  me,  speaks. 
Would  you  see  God,  see  me  ;  or  see  thee,  when  thou 
also  thinkest  as  I  now  think.'  But  what  a  distortion 
did  his  doctrine  and  memory  suffer  in  the  same,  in  the 
next,  and  the  following  ages !  There  is  no  doctrine 
of  the  Reason  which  will  bear  to  be  taught  by  the 
Understanding.  The  understanding  caught  this  high 
chant  from  the  poet's  lips,  and  said,  in  the  next  age, 
4  This  was  Jehovah  come  down  out  of  heaven.  I  will 
kill  you  if  you  say  he  was  a  man.'  The  idioms  of 
his  language  and  the  figures  of  his  rhetoric  have 
usurped  the  place  of  his  truth ;  and  churches  are  not 
built  on  his  principles,  but  on  his  tropes.  Christianity 
became  a  Mythus,  as  the  poetic  teaching  of  Greece 
and  of  Egypt,  before.  He  spoke  of  Miracles  ;  for  he 
felt  that  man's  life  was  a  miracle,  and  all  that  man 
doth,  and  he  knew  that  this  miracle  shines  as  the 
character  ascends.  But  the  word  Miracle,  as  pro 
nounced  by  Christian  churches,  gives  a  false  impres 
sion  j  it  is  Monster.  It  is  not  one  with  the  blowing 
clover  and  the  falling  rain." 

He  proceeds  to  point  out  what  he  considers  the 
great  defects  of  historical  Christianity.  It  has 
exaggerated  the  personal,  the  positive,  the  rit 
ual.  It  has  wronged  mankind  by  monopolizing 


122  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

all  virtues  for  the  Christian  name.  It  is  only 
by  his  holy  thoughts  that  Jesus  serves  us.  "  To 
aim  to  convert  a  man  by  miracles  is  a  profana 
tion  of  the  soul."  The  preachers  do  a  wrong  to 
Jesus  by  removing  him  from  our  human  sympa 
thies  ;  they  should  not  degrade  his  life  and  dia 
logues  by  insulation  and  peculiarity. 

Another  defect  of  the  traditional  and  limited 
way  of  using  the  mind  of  Christ  is  that  the 
Moral  Nature  —  the  Law  of  Laws  —  is  not  ex 
plored  as  the  fountain  of  the  established  teach 
ing  in  society.  "Men  have  come  to  speak  of 
the  revelation  as  somewhat  long  ago  given  and 
done,  as  if  God  were  dead."  — "  The  soul  is 
not  preached.  The  church  seems  to  totter  to 
its  fall,  almost  all  life  extinct.  —  The  stationari- 
ness  of  religion;  the  assumption  that  the  age 
of  inspiration  is  past ;  that  the  Bible  is  closed ; 
the  fear  of  degrading  the  character  of  Jesus  by 
representing  him  as  a  man ;  indicate  with  suffi 
cient  clearness  the  falsehood  of  our  theology.  It 
is  the  office  of  a  true  teacher  to  show  us  that 
God  is,  not  was ;  that  he  speaketh,  not  spake. 
The  true  Christianity  —  a  faith  like  Christ's  in 
the  infinitude  of  Man  —  is  lost." 

When  Emerson  came  to  what  his  earlier  an 
cestors  would  have  called  the  "  practical  appli 
cation,"  some  of  his  young  hearers  must  have 
been  startled  at  the  style  of  his  address. 


DIVINITY  SCHOOL  ADDRESS.  123 

"  Yourself  a  new  -  born  bard  of  the  Ht)ly 
Ghost,  cast  behind  you  all  conformity,  and  ac 
quaint  men  at  first  hand  with  Deity.  Look  to 
it  first  and  only,  that  fashion,  custom,  authority, 
pleasure,  and  money  are  nothing  to  you,  —  are 
not  bandages  over  your  eyes,  that  you  cannot 
see,  —  but  live  with  the  privilege  of  the  immeas 
urable  mind." 

Emerson  recognizes  two  inestimable  advan 
tages  as  the  gift  of  Christianity ;  first  the  Sab 
bath,  —  hardly  a  Christian  institution,  —  and 
secondly  the  institution  of  preaching.  He  spoke 
not  only  eloquently,  but  with  every  evidence  of 
deep  sincerity  and  conviction.  He  had  sacrificed 
an  enviable  position  to  that  inner  voice  of  duty 
which  he  now  proclaimed  as  the  sovereign  law 
over  all  written  or  spoken  words.  But  he  was  as 
sailing  the  cherished  beliefs  of  those  before  him, 
and  of  Christendom  generally  ;  not  with  hard  or 
bitter  words,  not  with  sarcasm  or  levity,  rather 
as  one  who  felt  himself  charged  with  a  message 
from  the  same  divinity  who  had  inspired  the 
prophets  and  evangelists  of  old  with  whatever 
truth  was  in  their  messages.  He  might  be 
wrong,  but  his  words  carried  the  evidence  of  his 
own  serene,  unshaken  confidence  that  the  spirit 
of  all  truth  was  with  him.  Some  of  his  audi 
ence,  at  least,  must  have  felt  the  contrast  be 
tween  his  utterances  and  the  formal  discourses 


124  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

they  had  so  long  listened  to,  and  said  to  them, 
selves,  "  he  speaks  '  as  one  having  authority,  and 
not  as  the  Scribes.' ': 

Such  teaching,  however,  could  not  be  suffered 
to  go  unchallenged.  Its  doctrines  were  repu 
diated  in  the  "  Christian  Examiner,"  the  lead 
ing  organ  of  the  Unitarian  denomination.  The 
Rev.  Henry  Ware,  greatly  esteemed  and  hon 
ored,  whose  colleague  he  had  been,  addressed  a 
letter  to  him,  in  which  he  expressed  the  feeling 
that  some  of  the  statements  of  Emerson's  dis 
course  would  tend  to  overthrow  the  authority 
and  influence  of  Christianity.  To  this  note  Em 
erson  returned  the  following  answer :  — 

"  What  you  say  about  the  discourse  at  Divinity 
College  is  just  what  I  might  expect  from  your  truth 
and  charity,  combined  with  your  known  opinions.  I 
am  not  a  stick  or  a  stone,  as  one  said  in  the  old  time, 
and  could  not  but  feel  pain  in  saying  some  things  in 
that  place  and  presence  which  I  supposed  would  meet 
with  dissent,  I  may  say,  of  dear  friends  and  benefac 
tors  of  mine.  Yet,  as  my  conviction  is  perfect  in  the 
substantial  truth  of  the  doctrines  of  this  discourse, 
and  is  not  very  new,  you  will  see  at  once  that  it  must 
appear  very  important  that  it  be  spoken ;  and  I 
thought  I  could  not  pay  the  nobleness  of  my  friends 
so  mean  a  compliment  as  to  suppress  my  opposition 
to  their  supposed  views,  out  of  fear  of  offence.  I 
would  rather  say  to  them,  these  tilings  look  thus  to 


CORRESPONDENCE.  125 

me,  to  you  otherwise.  Let  us  say  our  uttermost 
word,  and  let  the  all-pervading  truth,  as  it  surely  will, 
judge  between  us.  Either  of  us  would,  I  doubt  not, 
be  willingly  apprised  of  his  error.  Meantime,  I  shall 
be  admonished  by  this  expression  of  your  thought, 
to  revise  with  greater  care  the  '  address,'  before  it 
is  printed  (for  the  use  of  the  class)  :  and  I  heartily 
thank  you  for  this  expression  of  your  tried  toleration 
and  love." 

Dr.  Ware  followed  up  his  note  with  a  sermon, 
preached  on  the  23d  of  September,  in  which  he 
dwells  especially  on  the  necessity  of  adding  the 
idea  of  personality  to  the  abstractions  of  Emer 
son's  philosophy,  and  sent  it  to  him  with  a  letter, 
the  kindness  and  true  Christian  spirit  of  which 
were  only  what  were  inseparable  from  all  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  that  most  excellent  and 
truly  apostolic  man. 

To  this  letter  Emerson  sent  the  following  re- 

Pty:  — 

CONCORD,  October  8,  1838. 

MY  DEAB  SIR,  —  I  ought  sooner  to  have  acknowl 
edged  your  kind  letter  of  last  week,  and  the  ser 
mon  it  accompanied.  The  letter  was  right  manly 
and  noble.  The  sermon,  too,  I  have  read  with  atten 
tion.  If  it  assails  any  doctrine  of  mine,  —  perhaps 
I  am  not  so  quick  to  see  it  as  writers  generally,  — 
certainly  I  did  not  feel  any  disposition  to  depart 
from  my  habitual  contentment,  that  you  should  say 
your  thought,  whilst  I  say  mine.  I  believe  I  must 


126  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

tell  you  what  I  think  of  my  new  position.  It  strikes 
me  very  oddly  that  good  and  wise  men  at  Cambridge 
and  Boston  should  think  of  raising  me  into  an  ob 
ject  of  criticism.  I  have  always  been  —  from  my 
very  incapacity  of  methodical  writing  —  a  '  char 
tered  libertine,'  free  to  worship  and  free  to  rail,  — 
lucky  when  I  could  make  myself  understood,  but 
never  esteemed  near  enough  to  the  institutions  and 
mind  of  society  to  deserve  the  notice  of  the  masters 
of  literature  and  religion.  I  have  appreciated  fully 
the  advantages  of  my  position,  for  I  well  know  there 
is  no  scholar  less  willing  or  less  able  than  myself  to 
be  a  polemic.  I  could  not  give  an  account  of  myself, 
if  challenged.  I  could  not  possibly  give  you  one  of 
the  '  arguments '  you  cruelly  hint  at,  on  which  any 
doctrine  of  mine  stands ;  for  I  do  not  know  what 
arguments  are  in  reference  to  any  expression  of  a 
thought.  I  delight  in  telling  what  I  think ;  but  if 
you  ask  me  how  I  dare  say  so,  or  why  it  is  so,  I  am 
the  most  helpless  of  mortal  men.  I  do  not  even  see 
that  either  of  these  questions  admits  of  an  answer. 
So  that  in  the  present  droll  posture  of  my  affairs, 
when  I  see  myself  suddenly  raised  to  the  importance 
of  a  heretic,  I  am  very  uneasy  when  I  advert  to  the 
supposed  duties  of  such  a  personage,  who  is  to  make 
good  his  thesis  against  all  comers.  I  certainly  shall 
do  no  such  thing.  I  shall  read  what  you  and  other 
good  men  write,  as  I  have  always  done,  glad  when 
you  speak  my  thoughts,  and  skipping  the  page  that 
has  nothing  for  me.  I  shall  go  on  just  as  before, 
seeing  whatever  I  can,  and  telling  what  I  see  ;  and, 


LECTURES  ON  HUMAN  LIFE.  127 

1  suppose,  with  the  same  fortune  that  has  hitherto 
attended  me,  —  the  joy  of  finding  that  my  abler  and 
better  brothers,  who  work  with  the  sympathy  of  so 
ciety,  loving  and  beloved,  do  now  and  then  unex 
pectedly  confirm  my  conceptions,  and  find  my  non 
sense  is  only  their  own  thought  in  motley,  —  and  so 
I  am  your  affectionate  servant,"  etc. 

The  controversy  which  followed  is  a  thing  of 
the  past ;  Emerson  took  no  part  in  it,  and  we 
need  not  return  to  the  discussion.  He  knew  his 
office  and  has  defined  it  in  the  clearest  manner 
in  the  letter  just  given,  —  "  Seeing  whatever  I 
can,  and  telling  what  I  see."  But  among  his 
listeners  and  readers  was  a  man  of  very  dif 
ferent  mental  constitution,  not  more  indepen 
dent  or  fearless,  but  louder  and  more  combat 
ive,  whose  voice  soon  became  heard  and  whose 
strength  soon  began  to  be  felt  in  the  long  battle 
between  the  traditional  and  immanent  inspira 
tion,  —  Theodore  Parker.  If  Emerson  was  the 
moving  spirit,  he  was  the  right  arm  in  the  con 
flict,  which  in  one  form  or  another  has  been 
waged  up  to  the  present  day. 

In  the  winter  of  1838-39  Emerson  delivered 
his  usual  winter  course  of  Lectures.  He  names 
them  in  a  letter  to  Carlyle  as  follows :  "  Ten 
Lectures :  I.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Soul ;  II. 
Home;  III.  The  School;  IV.  Love;  V.  Gen 
ius  ;  VI.  The  Protest ;  VII.  Tragedy  ;  VIII. 


128  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

Comedy  ;  IX.  Duty ;  X.  Demonology.  I  de 
signed  to  add  two  more,  but  my  lungs  played 
me  false  with  unseasonable  inflammation,  so  I 
discoursed  no  more  on  Human  Life."  Two  or 
three  of  these  titles  only  are  prefixed  to  his  pub 
lished  Lectures  or  Essays ;  Love,  in  the  first 
volume  of  Essays  ;  Demonology  in  "  Lectures 
and  Biographical  Sketches ; "  and  "  The  Comic  " 
in  "  Letters  and  Social  Aims." 

I  owe  the  privilege  of  making  use  of  the  two 
following  letters  to  my  kind  and  honored  friend, 
James  Freeman  Clarke. 

The  first  letter  was  accompanied  by  the  Poem 
"The  Humble-bee,"  which  was  first  published 
by  Mr.  Clarke  in  the  "Western  Messenger," 
from  the  autograph  copy,  which  begins  "  Fine 
humble-bee !  fine  humble-bee  !  "  and  has  a  num 
ber  of  other  variations  from  the  poem  as  printed 
in  his  collected  works. 

CONCORD,  December  7,  1838. 

MY  DEAR  Sm,  —  Here  are  the  verses.  They 
have  pleased  some  of  my  friends,  and  so  may  please 
some  of  your  readers,  and  you  asked  me  in  the  spring 
if  I  had  n't  somewhat  to  contribute  to  your  journal. 
I  remember  in  your  letter  you  mentioned  the  remark 
of  some  friend  of  yours  that  the  verses,  "  Take,  O 
take  those  lips  away,"  were  not  Shakspeare's  ;  I  think 
they  are.  Beaumont,  nor  Fletcher,  nor  both  together 
were  ever,  I  think,  visited  by  such  a  starry  gleam  as 


LETTERS   TO  JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE.     129 

that  stanza.  I  know  it  is  in  "  Rollo,"  but  it  is  in 
"  Measure  for  Measure  "  also ;  and  I  remember  no 
ticing  that  the  Malones,  and  Stevens,  and  critical 
gentry  were  about'  evenly  divided,  these  for  Shak- 
speare,  and  those  for  Beaumont  and  Fletcher.  But 
the  internal  evidence  is  all  for  one,  none  for  the 
other.  If  he  did  not  write  it,  they  did  not,  and  we 
shall  have  some  fourth  unknown  singer.  What  care 
we  who  sung  this  or  that.  It  is  we  at  last  who  sing. 
Your  friend  and  servant,  R.  W.  EMERSON. 

TO  JAMES   FREEMAN   CLARKE. 

CONCORD,  February  27,  1839. 

MY  DEAR  SIR.  —  I  am  very  sorry  to  have  made 
you  wait  so  long  for  an  answer  to  your  flattering  re 
quest  for  two  such  little  poems-  You  are  quite  wel 
come  to  the  lines  "  To  the  Rhodora ; "  but  I  think 
they  need  the  superscription  ["  Lines  on  being  asked 
'  Whence  is  the  Flower  ? '  "].  Of  the  other  verses 
["  Good-by  proud  world."  etc.]  I  send  you  a  cor 
rected  copy,  but  I  wonder  so  much  at  your  wishing 
to  print  them  that  I  think  you  must  read  them  once 
again  with  your  critical  spectacles  before  they  go  fur 
ther.  They  were  written  sixteen  years  ago,  when  I 
kept  school  in  Boston,  and  lived  in  a  corner  of  Rox- 
bury  called  Canterbury.  They  have  a  slight  misan 
thropy,  a  shade  deeper  than  belongs  to  me ;  and  as  it 
seems  nowadays  I  am  a  philosopher  and  am  grown 
to  have  opinions,  I  think  they  must  have  an  apolo 
getic  date,  though  I  well  know  that  poetry  that  needs 
a  date  is  no  poetry,  and  so  you  will  wiselier  suppress 


130  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

them.  I  heartily  wish  I  had  any  verses  which  with 
a  clear  mind  I  could  send  you  in  lieu  of  these  juve 
nilities.  It  is  strange,  seeing  the  delight  we  take  in 
verses,  that  we  can  so  seldom  write  them,  and  so  are 
not  ashamed  to  lay  up  old  ones,  say  sixteen  years,  in 
stead  of  improvising  them  as  freely  as  the  wind 
blows,  whenever  we  and  our  brothers  are  attuned  to 
music.  I  have  heard  of  a  citizen  who  made  an  an 
nual  joke.  I  believe  I  have  in  April  or  May  an  an 
nual  poetic  conatus  rather  than  afflatus,  experiment 
ing  to  the  length  of  thirty  lines  or  so,  if  I  may  judge 
from  the  dates  of  the  rhythmical  scraps  I  detect 
among  my  MSS.  I  look  upon  this  incontinence  as 
merely  the  redundancy  of  a  susceptibility  to  poetry 
which  makes  all  the  bards  my  daily  treasures,  and  I 
can  well  run  the  risk  of  being  ridiculous  once  a  year 
for  the  benefit  of  happy  reading  all  the  other  days. 
In  regard  to  the  Providence  Discourse,  I  have  no 
copy  of  it ;  and  as  far  as  I  remember  its  contents,  I 
have  since  used  whatever  is  striking  in  it ;  but  I  will 
get  the  MS.,  if  Margaret  Fuller  has  it,  and  you  shall 
have  it  if  it  will  pass  muster.  I  shall  certainly  avail 
myself  of  the  good  order  you  gave  me  for  twelve 
copies  of  the  "  Carlyle  Miscellanies,"  so  soon  as  they 
appear.  He,  T.  C.,  writes  in  excellent  spirits  of  his 
American  friends  and  readers.  ...  A  new  book,  he 
writes,  is  growing  in  him,  though  not  to  begin  until 
his  spring  lectures  are  over  (which  begin  in  May). 
Your  sister  Sarah  was  kind  enough  to  carry  me  the 
other  day  to  see  some  pencil  sketches  done  by  Stuart 
Newton  when  in  the  Insane  Hospital.  They  seemed 


DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE  ADDRESS.  131 

to  me  to  betray  the  richest  invention,  so  rich  as  al 
most  to  say,  why  draw  any  line  since  you  can  draw 
all  ?  Genius  has  given  you  the  freedom  of  the  uni 
verse,  why  then  come  within  any  walls  ?  And  this 
seems  to  be  the  old  moral  which  we  draw  from  our 
fable,  read  it  how  or  where  you  will,  that  we  cannot 
make  one  good  stroke  until  we  can  make  every  pos 
sible  stroke ;  and  when  we  can  one,  every  one  seems 
superfluous.  I  heartily  thank  you  for  the  good 
wishes  you  send  me  to  open  the  year,  and  I  say  them 
back  again  to  you.  Your  field  is  a  world,  and  all 
men  are  your  spectators,  and  all  men  respect  the 
true  and  great-hearted  service  you  render.  And  yet 
it  is  not  spectator  nor  spectacle  that  concerns  either 
you  or  me.  The  whole  world  is  sick  of  that  very  ail, 
of  being  seen,  and  of  seemliness.  It  belongs  to  the 
brave  now  to  trust  themselves  infinitely,  and  to  sit 
and  hearken  alone.  I  am  glad  to  see  William  Chan- 
ning  is  one  of  your  coadjutors.  Mrs.  Jameson's  new 
book,  I  should  think,  would  bring  a  caravan  of  trav 
ellers,  aesthetic,  artistic,  and  what  not,  up  your  mighty 
stream,  or  along  the  lakes  to  Mackinaw.  As  I  read 
I  almost  vowed  an  exploration,  but  I  doubt  if  I  ever 
get  beyond  the  Hudson. 

Your  affectionate  servant,      R.  W.  EMEBSON. 

On  the  24th  of  July,  1838,  a  little  more  than 
a  week  after  the  delivery  of  the  Address  before 
the  Divinity  School,  Mr.  Emerson  delivered  an 
Oration  before  the  Literary  Societies  of  Dart 
mouth  College.  If  any  rumor  of  the  former 


132  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

discourse  had  reached  Dartmouth,  the  audience 
must  have  been  prepared  for  a  much  more  start 
ling  performance  than  that  to  which  they  lis 
tened.  The  bold  avowal  which  fluttered  the 
dovecotes  of  Cambridge  would  have  sounded 
like  the  crash  of  doom  to  the  cautious  old  ten 
ants  of  the  Hanover  aviary.  If  there  were  any 
drops  of  false  or  questionable  doctrine  in  the 
silver  shower  of  eloquence  under  which  they  had 
been  sitting,  the  plumage  of  orthodoxy  glistened 
with  unctuous  repellents,  and  a  shake  or  two  on 
coming  out  of  church  left  the  sturdy  old  dog 
matists  as  dry  as  ever. 

Those  who  remember  the  Dartmouth  College 
of  that  day  cannot  help  smiling  at  the  thought 
of  the  contrast  in  the  way  of  thinking  between 
the  speaker  and  the  larger  part,  or  at  least  the 
older  part,  of  his  audience.  President  Lord  was 
well  known  as  the  scriptural  defender  of  the  in 
stitution  of  slavery.  Not  long  before  a  contro 
versy  had  arisen,  provoked  by  the  setting  up  of 
the  Episcopal  form  of  worship  by  one  of  the 
Professors,  the  most  estimable  and  scholarly  Dr. 
Daniel  Oliver.  Perhaps,  however,  the  extreme 
difference  between  the  fundamental  conceptions 
of  Mr.  Emerson  and  the  endemic  orthodoxy  of 
that  place  and  time  was  too  great  for  any  hostile 
feeling  to  be  awakened  by  the  sweet-voiced  and 
peaceful-mannered  speaker.  There  is  a  kind  of 


LITERARY  ETHICS.  133 

harmony  between  boldly  contrasted  beliefs  like 
that  between  complementary  colors.  It  is  when 
two  shades  of  the  same  color  are  brought  side 
by  side  that  comparison  makes  them  odious  to 
each  other.  Mr.  Emerson  could  go  anywhere 
and  find  willing  listeners  among  those  farthest 
in  their  belief  from  the  views  he  held.  Such 
was  his  simplicity  of  speech  and  manner,  such 
his  transparent  sincerity,  that  it  was  next  to  im 
possible  to  quarrel  with  the  gentle  image-breaker. 

The  subject  of  Mr.  Emerson's  Address  is  Lit 
erary  Ethics.  It  is  on  the  same  lofty  plane  of 
sentiment  and  in  the  same  exalted  tone  of  elo 
quence  as  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Address.  The 
word  impassioned  would  seem  misplaced,  if  ap 
plied  to  any  of  Mr.  Emerson's  orations.  But 
these  discourses  were  both  written  and  delivered 
in  the  freshness  of  his  complete  manhood.  They 
were  produced  at  a  time  when  his  mind  had 
learned  its  powers  and  the  work  to  which  it  was 
called,  in  the  struggle  which  freed  him  from  the 
constraint  of  stereotyped  confessions  of  faith 
and  all  peremptory  external  authority.  It  is  not 
strange,  therefore,  to  find  some  of  his  paragraphs 
glowing  with  heat  and  sparkling  with  imagina 
tive  illustration. 

"  Neither  years  nor  books,"  he  says,  "  have 
yet  availed  to  extirpate  a  prejudice  rooted  in 
me,  that  a  scholar  is  the  favorite  of  Heaven  and 


134  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

earth,  the  excellency  of  his  country,  the  happiest 
of  men."  And  yet,  he  confesses  that  the  schol 
ars  of  this  country  have  not  fulfilled  the  rea 
sonable  expectation  of  mankind.  "  Men  here, 
as  elsewhere,  are  indisposed  to  innovation  and 
prefer  any  antiquity,  any  usage,  any  livery  pro 
ductive  of  ease  or  profit,  to  the  unproductive 
service  of  thought."  For  all  this  he  offers  those 
correctives  which  in  various  forms  underlie  all 
his  teachings.  "  The  resources  of  the  scholar 
are  proportioned  to  his  confidence  in  the  attri 
butes  of  the  Intellect."  New  lessons  of  spirit 
ual  independence,  fresh  examples  and  illustra 
tions,  are  drawn  from  history  and  biography. 
There  is  a  passage  here  so  true  to  nature  that  it 
permits  a  half  page  of  quotation  and  a  line  or 
two  of  comment :  — 

"  An  intimation  of  these  broad  rights  is  familiar  in 
the  sense  of  injury  which  men  feel  in  the  assumption 
of  any  man  to  limit  their  possible  progress.  We  re 
sent  all  criticism  which  denies  us  anything  that  lies 
in  our  line  of  advance.  Say  to  the  man  of  letters, 
that  he  cannot  paint  a  Transfiguration,  or  build  a 
steamboat,  or  be  a  grand-marshal,  and  he  will  not 
seem  to  himself  depreciated.  But  deny  to  him  any 
quality  of  literary  or  metaphysical  power,  and  he  is 
piqued.  Concede  to  him  genius,  which  is  a  sort  of 
stoical  plenum  annulling  the  comparative,  and  he  is 
content ;  but  concede  him  talents  never  so  rare,  de 
nying  him  genius,  and  he  is  aggrieved." 


LITERARY  ETHICS.  135 

But  it  ought  to  be  added  that  if  the  pleasure 
of  denying  the  genius  of  their  betters  were  de 
nied  to  the  mediocrities,  their  happiness  would 
be  forever  blighted. 

From  the  resources  of  the  American  Scholar 
Mr.  Emerson  passes  to  his  tasks.  Nature,  as  it 
seems  to  him,  has  never  yet  been  truly  studied. 
"  Poetry  has  scarcely  chanted  its  first  song.  The 
perpetual  admonition  of  Nature  to  us  is,  'The 
world  is  new,  untried.  Do  not  believe  the  past. 
I  give  you  the  universe  a  virgin  to-day.'  ';  And 
in  the  same  way  he  would  have  the  scholar  look 
at  history,  at  philosophy.  The  world  belongs  to 
the  student,  but  he  must  put  himself  into  har 
mony  with  the  constitution  of  things.  "  He 
must  embrace  solitude  as  a  bride."  Not  super- 
stitiously,  but  after  having  found  out,  as  a  little 
experience  will  teach  him,  all  that  society  can  do 
for  him  with  its  foolish  routine.  I  have  spoken 
of  the  exalted  strain  into  which  Mr.  Emerson 
sometimes  rises  in  the  midst  of  his  general  se 
renity.  Here  is  an  instance  of  it :  — 

"You  will  hear  every  day  the  maxims  of  a  low 
prudence.  You  will  hear  that  the  first  duty  is  to 
get  land  and  money,  place  and  name.  '  What  is  this 
truth  you  seek  ?  What  is  this  beauty  ? '  men  will 
ask,  with  derision.  If,  nevertheless,  God  have  called 
any  of  you  to  explore  truth  and  beauty,  be  bold,  be 
firm,  be  true.  When  you  shall  say,  'As  others  do,  so 


136  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

will  I :  I  renounce,  I  am  sorry  for  it,  my  early  vis 
ions  :  I  musjt  eat  the  good  of  the  land,  and  let  learn 
ing  and  romantic  expectations  go,  until  a  more  con 
venient  season  ; '  —  then  dies  the  man  in  you  ;  then 
once  more  perish  the  huds  of  art,  and  poetry,  and  sci 
ence,  as  they  have  died  already  in  a  thousand  thou 
sand  men.  —  Bend  to  the  persuasion  which  is  flowing 
to  you  from  every  object  in  nature,  to  be  its  tongue 
to  the  heart  of  man,  and  to  show  the  besotted  world 
how  passing  fair  is  wisdom.  Why  should  you  re 
nounce  your  right  to  traverse  the  starlit  deserts  of 
truth,  for  the  premature  comforts  of  an  acre,  house, 
and  barn  ?  Truth  also  has  its  roof  and  house  and 
board.  Make  yourself  necessary  to  the  world,  and 
mankind  will  give  you  bread ;  and  if  not  store  of  it, 
yet  such  as  shall  not  take  away  your  property  in  all 
men's  possessions,  in  all  men's  affections,  in  art,  in 
nature,  and  in  hope." 

The  next  Address  Emerson  delivered  was 
"  The  Method  of  Nature,"  before  the  Society 
of  the  Adelphi,  in  Waterville  College,  Maine, 
August  11,  1841. 

In  writing  to  Carlyle  on  the  31st  of  July,  he 
says :  "  As  usual  at  this  season  of  the  year,  I, 
incorrigible  spouting  Yankee,  am  writing  an  ora 
tion  to  deliver  to  the  boys  in  one  of  our  little 
country  colleges  nine  days  hence.  .  .  .  My  whole 
philosophy  —  which  is  very  real  —  teaches  ac 
quiescence  and  optimism.  Only  when  I  see  how 
much  work  is  to  be  done,  what  room  for  a  poet 


"THE  METHOD   OF  NATURE."  137 

—  for  any  spiritualist — in  this  great,  intelli 
gent,  sensual,  and  avaricious  America,  I  lament 
my  fumbling  fingers  and  stammering  tongue." 
It  may  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Matthew  Ar 
nold  quoted  the  expression  about  America,  which 
sounded  more  harshly  as  pronounced  in  a  public 
lecture  than  as  read  in  a  private  letter. 

The  Oration  shows  the  same  vein  of  thought 
as  the  letter.  Its  title  is  "  The  Method  of  Na 
ture."  He  begins  with  congratulations  on  the 
enjoyments  and  promises  of  this  literary  Anni 
versary. 

"  The  scholars  are  the  priests  of  that  thought  which 
establishes  the  foundations  of  the  castle."  — "  We 
hear  too  much  of  the  results  of  machinery,  commerce, 
and  the  useful  arts.  We  are  a  puny  and  a  fickle 
folk.  Avarice,  hesitation,  and  following  are  our  dis 
eases.  The  rapid  wealth  which  hundreds  in  the  com 
munity  acquire  in  trade,  or  by  the  incessant  expan 
sion  of  our  population  and  arts,  enchants  the  eyes  of 
all  the  rest ;  this  luck  of  one  is  the  hope  of  thousands, 
and  the  bribe  acts  like  the  neighborhood  of  a  gold 
mine  to  impoverish  the  farm,  the  school,  the  church, 
the  house,  and  the  very  body  and  feature  of  man."  — 
"  While  the  multitude  of  men  degrade  each  other, 
and  give  currency  to  desponding  doctrines,  the  scholar 
must  be  a  bringer  of  hope,  and  must  reinforce  man 
against  himself." 

I  think  we  may  detect  more  of  the  manner  of 


138  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

Carlyle  in   this  Address  than  in  any  of   those 
which  preceded  it. 

"  Why  then  goest  thou  as  some  Boswell  or  literary 
worshipper  to  this  saint  or  to  that  ?  That  is  the  only 
lese-majesty.  Here  art  thou  with  whom  so  long  the 
universe  travailed  in  labor ;  darest  thou  think  meanly 
of  thyself  whom  the  stalwart  Fate  hrought  forth  to 
unite  his  ragged  sides,  to  shoot  the  gulf,  to  reconcile 
the  irreconcilable  ?  " 

That  there  is  an  "  intimate  divinity  "  which  is 
the  source  of  all  true  wisdom,  that  the  duty  of 
man  is  to  listen  to  its  voice  and  to  follow  it,  that 
"  the  sanity  of  man  needs  the  poise  of  this  im 
manent  force,"  that  the  rule  is  "  Do  what  you 
know,  and  perception  is  converted  into  char 
acter,"  —  all  this  is  strongly  enforced  and  richly 
illustrated  in  this  Oration.  Just  how  easily  it 
was  followed  by  the  audience,  just  how  far  they 
were  satisfied  with  its  large  principles  wrought 
into  a  few  broad  precepts,  it  would  be  easier  at 
this  time  to  ask  than  to  learn.  We  notice  not  so 
much  the  novelty  of  the  ideas  to  be  found  in  this 
discourse  on  "  The  Method  of  Nature,"  as  the 
pictorial  beauty  of  their  expression.  The  deep 
reverence  which  underlies  all  Emerson's  specu 
lations  is  well  shown  in  this  paragraph  :  — 

"  We  ought  to  celehrate  this  hour  by  expressions 
of  manly  joy.  Not  thanks  nor  prayer  seem  quite  the 
highest  or  truest  name  for  our  communication  with 


'•'•TEE  METHOD   OF  NATURE."  139 

the  infinite,  —  but  glad  and  conspiring  reception,  — 
reception  that  becomes  giving  in  its  turn  as  the  re 
ceiver  is  only  the  All-Giver  in  part  and  in  infancy." 
— "  It  is  God  in  us  which  checks  the  language  of 
petition  by  grander  thought.  In  the  bottom  of  the 
heart  it  is  said :  '  I  am,  and  by  me,  O  child  !  this  fair 
body  and  world  of  thine  stands  and  grows.  I  am, 
all  things  are  mine  ;  and  all  mine  are  thine.'  " 

We  must  not  quarrel  with,  his  peculiar  ex 
pressions.  He  says,  in  this  same  paragraph,  "  I 
cannot,  —  nor  can  any  man,  —  speak  precisely 
of  things  so  sublime;  but  it  seems  to  me  the 
wit  of  man,  his  strength,  his  grace,  his  tendency, 
his  art,  is  the  grace  and  the  presence  of  God. 
It  is  beyond  explanation."  . 

"  We  can  point  nowhere  to  anything  final  but  ten 
dency  ;  but  tendency  appears  on  all  hands  ;  planet, 
system,  constellation,  total  nature  is  growing  like  a 
field  of  maize  in  July  ;  is  becoming  something  else ; 
is  in  rapid  metamorphosis.  The  embryo  does  not 
more  strive  to  be  man,  than  yonder  burr  of  light  we 
call  a  nebula  tends  to  be  a  ring,  a  comet,  a  globe,  and 
parent  of  new  stars."  "  In  short,  the  spirit  and  pecu 
liarity  of  that  impression  nature  makes  on  us  is  this, 
that  it  does  not  exist  to  any  one,  or  to  any  number  of 
particular  ends,  but  to  numberless  and  endless  benefit ; 
that  there  is  in  it  no  private  will,  no  rebel  leaf  or 
limb,  but  the  whole  is  oppressed  by  one  superincum 
bent  tendency,  obeys  that  redundancy  or  excess  of 
life  which  in  conscious  beings  we  call  ecstasy." 


140  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

Here  is  another  of  those  almost  lyrical  pas 
sages  which  seem  too  long  for  the  music  of 
rhythm  and  the  resonance  of  rhyme. 

"  The  great  Pan  of  old,  who  was  clothed  in  a  leop 
ard  skin  to  signify  the  beautiful  variety  of  things,  and 
the  firmament,  his  coat  of  stars,  was  but  the  repre 
sentative  of  thee,  O  rich  and  various  Man  !  thou  pal 
ace  of  sight  and  sound,  carrying  in  thy  senses  the 
morning  and  the  night  and  the  unfathomable  galaxy ; 
in  thy  brain  the  geometry  of  the  City  of  God ;  in  thy 
heart  the  bower  of  love  and  the  realms  of  right  and 
wrong." 

His  feeling  about  the  soul,  which  has  shown 
itself  in  many  of  the  extracts  already  given,  is 
summed  up  in  the  following  sentence :  — 

"  We  cannot  describe  the  natural  history  of  the 
soul,  but  we  know  that  it  is  divine.  I  cannot  tell  if 
these  wonderful  qualities  which  house  to-day  in  this 
mental  home  shall  ever  reassemble  in  equal  activity 
in  a  similar  frame,  or  whether  they  have  before  had  a 
natural  history  like  that  of  this  body  you  see  before 
you ;  but  this  one  thing  I  know,  that  these  qualities 
did  not  now  begin  to  exist,  cannot  be  sick  with  my 
sickness,  nor  buried  in  any  grave  ;  but  that  they  cir 
culate  through  the  Universe :  before  the  world  was, 
they  were." 

It  is  hard  to  see  the  distinction  between  the 
omnipresent  Deity  recognized  in  our  formal  con- 


OTHER  ADDRESSES.  141 

fessions  of  faith  and  the  "pantheism"  which  is 
the  object  of  dread  to  many  of  the  faithful.  But 
there  are  many  expressions  in  this  Address 
which  must  have  sounded  strangely  and  vaguely 
to  his  Christian  audience.  "  Are  there  not  mo 
ments  in  the  history  of  heaven  when  the  human 
race  was  not  counted  by  individuals,  but  was 
only  the  Influenced ;  was  God  in  distribution, 
God  rushing  into  manifold  benefit  ?  "  It  might 
be  feared  that  the  practical  philanthropists  would 
feel  that  they  lost  by  his  counsels. 

"  The  reform  whose  fame  now  fills  the  land  with 
Temperance,  Anti-Slavery,  Non-Resistance,  No  Gov 
ernment,  Equal  Labor,  fair  and  generous  as  each 
appears,  are  poor  bitter  things  when  prosecuted  for 
themselves  as  an  end."  —  "I  say  to  you  plainly  there 
is  no  end  to  which  your  practical  faculty  can  aim  so 
sacred  or  so  large,  that  if  pursued  for  itself,  will  not 
at  last  become  carrion  and  an  offence  to  the  nostril. 
The  imaginative  faculty  of  the  soul  must  be  fed  with 
objects  immense  and  eternal.  Your  end  should  be 
one  inapprehensible  to  the  senses  ;  then  it  will  be  a 
god,  always  approached,  —  never  touched  ;  always 
giving  health." 

Nothing  is  plainer  than  that  it  was  Emer 
son's  calling  to  supply  impulses  and  not  meth 
ods.  He  was  not  an  organizer,  but  a  power  be 
hind  many  organizers,  inspiring  them  with  lofty 
motive,  giving  breadth  to  their  views,  always 


142  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

tending  to  become  narrow  through  concentration 
on  their  special '  objects.  The  Oration  we  have 
been  examining  was  delivered  in  the  interval  be 
tween  the  delivery  of  two  Addresses,  one  called 
"  Man  the  Reformer,"  and  another  called  "  Lec 
ture  on  the  Times."  In  the  first  he  preaches 
the  dignity  and  virtue  of  manual  labor ;  that 
"  a  man  should  have  a  farm,  or  a  mechanical 
craft  for  his  culture." — That  he  cannot  give 
up  labor  without  suffering  some  loss  of  power. 
"  How  can  the  man  who  has  learned  but  one  art 
procure  all  the  conveniences  of  life  honestly  ? 
Shall  we  say  all  we  think  ?  —  Perhaps  with  his 
own  hands.  —  Let  us  learn  the  meaning  of  econ 
omy.  —  Parched  corn  eaten  to-day  that  I  may 
have  roast  fowl  to  my  dinner  on  Sunday  is  a 
baseness ;  but  parched  corn  and  a  house  with 
one  apartment,  that  I  may  be  free  of  all  pertur 
bation,  that  I  may  be  serene  and  docile  to  what 
the  mind  shall  speak,  and  quit  and  road-ready 
for  the  lowest  mission  of  knowledge  or  good  will, 
is  frugality  for  gods  and  heroes." 

This  was  what  Emerson  wrote  in  January, 
1841.  This  "  house  with  one  apartment "  was 
what  Thoreau  built  with  his  own  hands  in  1845. 
In  April  of  the  former  year,  he  went  to  live 
with  Mr.  Emerson,  but  had  been  on  intimate 
terms  with  him  previously  to  that  time.  Whether 
it  was  from  him  that  Thoreau  got  the  hint  of 


"LECTURE   ON   THE   TIMES."  143 

the  Walden  cabin  and  the  parched  corn,  or 
whether  this  idea  was  working  in  Thoreau's  mind 
and  was  suggested  to  Emerson  by  him,  is  of  no 
great  consequence.  Emerson,  to  whom  he  owed 
so  much,  may  well  have  adopted  some  of  those 
fancies  which  Thoreau  entertained,  and  after 
wards  worked  out  in  practice.  He  was  at  the 
philanthropic  centre  of  a  good  many  movements 
which  he  watched  others  carrying  out,  as  a  calm 
and  kindly  spectator,  without  losing  his  common 
sense  for  a  moment.  It  would  never  have  oc 
curred  to  him  to  leave  all  the  conveniences  and 
comforts  of  life  to  go  and  dwell  in  a  shanty,  so 
as  to  prove  to  himself  that  he  could  live  like 
a  savage,  or  like  his  friends  "  Teague  and  his 
jade,"  as  he  called  the  man  and  brother  and 
sister,  more  commonly  known  nowadays  as  Pat, 
or  Patrick,  and  his  old  woman. 

"  The  Americans  have  many  virtues,"  he  says 
in  this  Address,  "  but  they  have  not  Faith  and 
Hope."  Faith  and  Hope,  Enthusiasm  and  Love, 
are  the  burden  of  this  Address.  But  he  would 
regulate  these  qualities  by  "  a  great  prospec 
tive  prudence,"  which  shall  mediate  between  the 
spiritual  and  the  actual  world. 

In  the  "  Lecture  on  the  Times  "  he  shows  very 
clearly  the  effect  which  a  nearer  contact  with 
the  class  of  men  and  women  who  called  them 
selves  Reformers  had  upon  him. 


144  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  The  Reforms  have  their  higher  origin  in  an  ideal 
justice,  but  they  do  not  retain  the  purity  of  an  idea. 
They  are  quickly  organized  in  some  low,  inadequate 
form,  and  present  no  more  poetic  image  to  the  mind 
than  the  evil  tradition  which  they  reprobated.  They 
mix  the  fire  of  the  moral  sentiment  with  personal 
and  party  heats,  with  measureless  exaggerations,  and 
the  blindness  that  prefers  some  darling  measure  to 
justice  and  truth.  Those  who  are  urging  with  most 
ardor  what  are  called  the  greatest  benefit  of  mankind 
are  narrow,  self -pleasing,  conceited  men,  and  affect 
us  as  the  insane  do.  They  bite  us,  and  we  run  mad 
also.  I  think  the  work  of  the  reformer  as  innocent 
as  other  work  that  is  done  around  him ;  but  when 
I  have  seen  it  near  !  —  I  do  not  like  it  better.  It 
is  done  in  the  same  way ;  it  is  done  profanely,  not 
piously ;  by  management,  by  tactics  and  clamor." 

All  this,  and  much  more  like  it,  would  hardly 
have  been  listened  to  by  the  ardent  advocates  of 
the  various  reforms,  if  anybody  but  Mr.  Emer 
son  had  said  it.  He  undervalued  no  sincere  ac 
tion  except  to  suggest  a  wiser  and  better  one. 
He  attacked  no  motive  which  had  a  good  aim, 
except  in  view  of  some  larger  and  loftier  prin 
ciple.  The  charm  of  his  imagination  and  the 
music  of  his  words  took  away  all  the  sting  from 
the  thoughts  that  penetrated  to  the  very  marrow 
of  the  entranced  listeners.  Sometimes  it  was  a 
splendid  hyperbole  that  illuminated  a  statement 


"THE  TRANSCENDENTALIST"  145 

which  by  the  dim  light  of  common  speech  would 
have  offended  or  repelled  those  who  sat  before 
him.  He  knew  the  force  of  felix  audacia  as 
well  as  any  rhetorician  could  have  taught  him. 
He  addresses  the  reformer  with  one  of  those 
daring  images  which  defy  the  critics. 

"  As  the  farmer  casts  into  the  ground  the  finest 
ears  of  his  grain,  the  time  will  come  when  we  too 
shall  hold  nothing  back,  but  shall  eagerly  convert 
more  than  we  possess  into  means  and  powers, 
when  we  shall  be  willing  to  sow  the  sun  and  the 
moon  for  seeds." 

He  said  hard  things  to  the  reformer,  espe 
cially  to  the  Abolitionist,  in  his  "  Lecture  on  the 
Times."  It  would  have  taken  a  long  while  to 
get  rid  of  slavery  if  some  of  Emerson's  teach 
ings  in  this  lecture  had  been  accepted  as  the 
true  gospel  of  liberty.  But  how  much  its  last 
sentence  covers  with  its  soothing  tribute  ! 

"All  the  newspapers,  all  the  tongues  of  to 
day  will  of  course  defame  what  is  noble ;  but 
you  who  hold  not  of  to-day,  not  of  the  times,  but 
of  the  Everlasting,  are  to  stand  for  it ;  and 
the  highest  compliment  man  ever  receives  from 
Heaven  is  the  sending  to  him  its  disguised  and 
discredited  angels." 

The  Lecture  called  "  The  Transcendentalist " 
will  naturally  be  looked  at  with  peculiar  inter 
est,  inasmuch  as  this  term  has  been  very  com- 
10 


146  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

monly  applied  to  Emerson,  and  to  many  who 
were  considered  his  disciples.  It  has  a  proper 
philosophical  meaning,  and  it  has  also  a  local 
and  accidental  application  to  the  individuals  of 
a  group  which  came  together  very  much  as  any 
literary  club  might  collect  about  a  teacher.  All 
this  comes  out  clearly  enough  in  the  Lecture. 
In  the  first  place,  Emerson  explains  that  the 
"  new  views,"  as  they  are  called,  are  the  oldest 
of  thoughts  cast  in  a  new  mould. 

"  What  is  popularly  called  Transcendentalism 
among  us  is  Idealism :  Idealism  as  it  appears  in 
1842.  As  thinkers,  mankind  have  ever  divided  into 
two  sects,  Materialists  and  Idealists ;  the  first  class 
founding  on  experience,  the  second  on  consciousness ; 
the  first  class  beginning  to  think  from  the  data  of  the 
senses,  the  second  class  perceive  that  the  senses  are 
not  final,  and  say,  the  senses  give  us  representations 
of  things,  but  what  are  the  things  themselves,  they 
cannot  tell.  The  materialist  insists  on  facts,  on  his 
tory,  on  the  force  of  circumstances  and  the  animal 
wants  of  man  ;  the  idealist  on  the  power  of  Thought 
and  of  Will,  on  inspiration,  on  miracle,  on  individual 
culture." 

"  The  materialist  takes  his  departure  from  the  ex 
ternal  world,  and  esteems  a  man  as  one  product  of 
that.  The  idealist  takes  his  departure  from  his  con 
sciousness,  and  reckons  the  world  an  appearance.  — 
His  thought,  that  is  the  Universe." 

The  association  of    scholars  and  thinkers  to 


"THE   TRANSCENDENTALIST."  147 

which  the  name  of  "  Transcendentalists "  was 
applied,  and  which  made  itself  an  organ  in  the 
periodical  known  as  "  The  Dial,"  has  been  writ 
ten  about  by  many  who  were  in  the  movement, 
and  others  who  looked  on  or  got  their  knowl 
edge  of  it  at  second  hand.  Emerson  was  closely 
associated  with  these  "  same  Transcendental 
ists,"  and  a  leading  contributor  to  "The  Dial," 
which  was  their  organ.  The  movement  bor 
rowed  its  inspiration  more  from  him  than  from 
any  other  source,  and  the  periodical  owed  more 
to  him  than  to  any  other  writer.  So  far  as  his 
own  relation  to  the  circle  of  illuminati  and  the 
dial  which  they  shone  upon  was  concerned,  he 
himself  is  the  best  witness. 

In  his  "  Historic  Notes  of  Life  and  Letters 
in  New  England,"  he  sketches  in  a  rapid  way 
the  series  of  intellectual  movements  which  led 
to  the  development  of  the  "  new  views  "  above 
mentioned.  "  There  are  always  two  parties," 
he  says,  "  the  party  of  the  Past  and  the  party  of 
the  Future ;  the  Establishment  and  the  Move 
ment." 

About  1820,  and  in  the  twenty  years  which 
followed,  an  era  of  activity  manifested  itself 
in  the  churches,  in  politics,  in  philanthropy,  in 
literature.  In  our  own  community  the  influence 
of  Swedenborg  and  of  the  genius  and  character 
of  Dr.  Channing  were  among  the  more  immedi- 


148  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

ate  early  causes  of  the  mental  agitation.  Emer 
son  attributes  a  great  importance  to  the  schol 
arship,  the  rhetoric,  the  eloquence,  of  Edward 
Everett,  who  returned  to  Boston  in  1820,  after 
five  years  of  study  in  Europe.  Edward  Everett 
is  already  to  a  great  extent  a  tradition,  some 
what  as  Rufus  Choate  is,  a  voice,  a  fading  echo, 
as  must  be  the  memory  of  every  great  orator. 
These  wondrous  personalities  have  their  truest 
and  warmest  life  in  a  few  old  men's  memories. 
It  is  therefore  with  delight  that  one  who  remem 
bers  Everett  in  his  robes  of  rhetorical  splendor, 
who  recalls  his  full-blown,  high-colored,  double- 
flowered  periods,  the  rich,  resonant,  grave,  far- 
reaching  music  of  his  speech,  with  just  enough 
of  nasal  vibration  to  give  the  vocal  sounding- 
board  its  proper  value  in  the  harmonies  of  ut 
terance,  —  it  is  with  delight  that  such  a  one 
reads  the  glowing  words  of  Emerson  whenever 
he  refers  to  Edward  Everett.  It  is  enough  if 
he  himself  caught  inspiration  from  those  elo 
quent  lips ;  but  many  a  listener  has  had  his 
youthful  enthusiasm  fired  by  that  great  master 
of  academic  oratory. 

Emerson  follows  out  the  train  of  influences 
which  added  themselves  to  the  impulse  given  by 
Mr.  Everett.  German  scholarship,  the  growth 
of  science,  the  generalizations  of  Goethe,  the 
idealism  of  Schelling,  the  influence  of  Words- 


"  THE  TRANSCENDENTALIST."  149 

worth,  of  Coleridge,  of  Carlyle,  and  in  our  im 
mediate  community,  the  writings  of  Channing, 
—  he  left  it  to  others  to  say  of  Emerson,  —  all 
had  their  part  in  this  intellectual,  or  if  we  may 
call  it  so,  spiritual  revival.  He  describes  with 
that  exquisite  sense  of  the  ridiculous  which  was 
a  part  of  his  mental  ballast,  the  first  attempt  at 
organizing  an  association  of  cultivated,  thought 
ful  people.  They  came  together,  the  cultivated, 
thoughtful  people,  at  Dr.  John  Collins  War 
ren's,  —  Dr.  Channing,  the  great  Dr.  Channing, 
among  the  rest,  full  of  the  great  thoughts  he 
wished  to  impart.  The  preliminaries  went  on 
smoothly  enough  with  the  usual  small  talk,  — 

"  When  a  side-door  opened,  the  whole  company 
streamed  in  to  an  oyster  supper,  crowned  by  excel 
lent  wines  [this  must  have  been  before  Dr.  War 
ren's  temperance  epoch],  and  so  ended  the  first  at 
tempt  to  establish  aesthetic  society  in  Boston. 

"  Some  time  afterwards  Dr.  Channing  opened  his 
mind  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ripley,  and  with  some  care 
they  invited  a  limited  party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen. 
I  had  the  honor  to  be  present.  —  Margaret  Fuller, 
George  Ripley,  Dr.  Convers  Francis,  Theodore 
Parker,  Dr.  Hedge,  Mr.  Brownson,  James  Freeman 
Clarke,  William  H.  Channing,  and  many  others  grad 
ually  drew  together,  and  from  time  to  time  spent  an 
afternoon  at  each  other's  houses  in  a  serious  conver 
sation." 


150  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

With  them  was  another,  "  a  pure  Idealist,  — 
who  read  Plato  as  an  equal,  and  inspired  his 
companions  only  in  proportion  as  they  were  in 
tellectual."  He  refers,  of  course  to  Mr.  Alcott. 
Emerson  goes  on  to  say :  — 

"  I  think  there  prevailed  at  that  time  a  general  be 
lief  in  Boston  that  there  was  some  concert  of  doctri 
naires  to  establish  certain  opinions,  and  inaugurate 
some  movement  in  literature,  philosophy,  and  relig 
ion,  of  which  design  the  supposed  conspirators  were 
quite  innocent ;  for  there  was  no  concert,  and  only 
here  and  there  two  or  three  men  and  women  who  read 
and  wrote,  each  alone,  with  unusual  vivacity.  Per 
haps  they  only  agreed  in  having  fallen  upon  Coleridge 
and  Wordsworth  and  Goethe,  then  on  Carlyle,  with 
pleasure  and  sympathy.  Otherwise  their  education 
and  reading  were  not  marked,  but  had  the  Ameri 
can  superficialness,  and  their  studies  were  solitary. 
I  suppose  all  of  them  were  surprised  at  this  rumor  of 
a  school  or  sect,  and  certainly  at  the  name  of  Tram 
scendentalism,  given,  nobody  knows  by  whom,  or 
when  it  was  applied." 

Emerson's  picture  of  some  of  these  friends  of 
his  is  so  peculiar  as  to  suggest  certain  obvious 
and  not  too  flattering  comments. 

"In  like  manner,  if  there  is  anything  grand  and 
daring  in  human  thought  or  virtue ;  any  reliance  on 
the  vast,  the  unknown ;  any  presentiment,  any  ex 
travagance  of  faith,  the  Spiritualist  adopts  it  as  most 
in  nature.  The  Oriental  mind  has  always  tended  to 


"THE  TRANSCENDENTALIST."  151 

this  largeness.  Buddhism  is  an  expression  of  it.  The 
Buddhist,  who  thanks  no  man,  who  says,  '  Do  not 
flatter  your  benefactors,'  but  who  in  his  conviction 
that  every  good  deed  can  by  no  possibility  escape  its 
reward,  will  not  deceive  the  benefactor  by  pretending 
that  he  has  done  more  than  he  should,  is  a  Tran- 
scendentalist. 

"  These  exacting  children  advertise  us  of  our  wants. 
There  is  no  compliment,  no  smooth  speech  with  them ; 
they  pay  you  only  this  one  compliment,  of  insatia 
ble  expectation  ;  they  aspire,  they  severely  exact,  and 
if  they  only  stand  fast  in  this  watch-tower,  and  per 
sist  in  demanding  unto  the  end,  and  without  end, 
then  are  they  terrible  friends,  whereof  poet  and  priest 
cannot  choose  but  stand  in  awe ;  and  what  if  they 
eat  clouds,  and  drink  wind,  they  have  not  been  with 
out  service  to  the  race  of  man." 

The  person  who  adopts  "  any  presentiment, 
any  extravagance  as  most  in  nature,"  is  not  com 
monly  called  a  Transcendentalist,  but  is  known 
colloquially  as  a  "  crank."  The  person  who  does 
not  thank,  by  word  or  look,  the  friend  or  stran 
ger  who  has  pnlled  him  out  of  the  fire  or  water, 
is  fortunate  if  he  gets  off  with  no  harder  name 
than  that  of  a  churl. 

Nothing  was  farther  from  Emerson  himself 
than  whimsical  eccentricity  or  churlish  austerity. 
But  there  was  occasionally  an  air  of  bravado  in 
some  of  his  followers  as  if  they  had  taken  out  a 
patent  for  some  knowing  machine  which  was  to 


152  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

give  them  a  monopoly  of  its  products.  They 
claimed  more  for  each  other  than  was  reason 
able,  —  so  much  occasionally  that  their  preten 
sions  became  ridiculous.  One  was  tempted  to 
ask  :  "  What  forlorn  hope  have  you  led  ?  What 
immortal  book  have  you  written  ?  What  great 
discovery  have  you  made  ?  What  heroic  task  of 
any  kind  have  you  performed  ? "  There  was 
too  much  talk  about  earnestness  and  too  little 
real  work  done.  Aspiration  too  frequently  got 
as  far  as  the  alpenstock  and  the  brandy  flask, 
but  crossed  no  dangerous  crevasse,  and  scaled 
no  arduous  summit.  In  short,  there  was  a  kind 
of  "  Transcendentalist "  dilettanteism,  which  be 
trayed  itself  by  a  phraseology  as  distinctive  as 
that  of  the  Delia  Cruscans  of  an  earlier  time. 

In  reading  the  following  description  of  the 
"  intelligent  and  religious  persons "  who  be 
longed  to  the  "  Transcendentalist  "  communion, 
the  reader  must  remember  that  it  is  Emerson 
who  draws  the  portrait,  —  a  friend  and  not  a 
scoffer :  — 

"  They  are  not  good  citizens,  not  good  members  of 
society  :  unwillingly  they  bear  their  part  of  the  pub 
lic  and  private  burdens  ;  they  do  not  willingly  share 
in  the  public  charities,  in  the  public  religious  rites,  in 
the  enterprise  of  education,  of  missions,  foreign  and 
domestic,  in  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade,  or  in  the 
temperance  society.  They  do  not  even  like  to  vote." 


"THE   TRANSCENDENTALISM"  153 

After  arraigning  the  representatives  of  Tran 
scendental  or  spiritual  beliefs  in  this  way,  he 
summons  them  to  plead  for  themselves,  and  this 
is  what  they  have  to  say :  — 

"  '  New,  we  confess,  and  by  no  means  happy,  is  our 
condition  :  if  you  want  the  aid  of  our  labor,  we  our 
selves  stand  in  greater  want  of  the  labor.  We  are 
miserable  with  inaction.  We  perish  of  rest  and  rust : 
but  we  do  not  like  your  work.' 

"  '  Then,'  says  the  world,  '  show  me  your  own.' 

"  (  We  have  none.' 

"  '  What  will  you  do,  then  ?  '  cries  the  world. 

"  '  We  will  wait.' 

"  «  How  long  ?  ' 

" '  Until  the  Universe  beckons  and  calls  us  to 
work.' 

"  '  Bat  whilst  you  wait  you  grow  old  and  useless.' 

" '  Be  it  so  :  I  can  sit  in  a  corner  and  perish  (as 
you  call  it),  but  I  will  not  move  until  I  have  the 
highest  command.'  " 

And  so  the  dissatisfied  tenant  of  this  unhappy 
creation  goes  on  with  his  reasons  for  doing  noth 
ing. 

It  is  easy  to  stay  away  from  church  and  from 
town-meetings.  It  is  easy  to  keep  out  of  the 
way  of  the  contribution  box  and  to  let  the  sub 
scription  paper  go  by  us  to  the  next  door.  The 
common  duties  of  life  and  the  good  offices  so- 


154  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

ciety  asks  of  us  may  be  left  to  take  care  of 
themselves  while  we  contemplate  the  infinite. 
There  is  no  safer  fortress  for  indolence  than 
"the  Everlasting  No."  The  chimney-corner  is 
the  true  arena  for  this  class  of  philosophers,  and 
the  pipe  and  mug  furnish  their  all-sufficient  pan 
oply.  Emerson  undoubtedly  met  with  some  of 
them  among  his  disciples.  His  wise  counsel  did 
not  always  find  listeners  in  a  fitting  condition  to 
receive  it.  He  was  a  sower  who  went  forth  to 
sow.  Some  of  the  good  seed  fell  among  the 
thorns  of  criticism.  Some  fell  on  the  rocks  of 
hardened  conservatism.  Some  fell  by  the  way 
side  and  was  picked  up  by  the  idlers  who  went 
to  the  lecture-room  to  get  rid  of  themselves. 
But  when  it  fell  upon  the  right  soil  it  bore  a 
growth  of  thought  which  ripened  into  a  harvest 
of  large  and  noble  lives. 

Emerson  shows  up  the  weakness  of  his  young 
enthusiasts  with  that  delicate  wit  which  warns 
its  objects  rather  than  wounds  them.  But  he 
makes  it  all  up  with  the  dreamers  before  he  can 
let  them  go. 

"  Society  also  has  its  duties  in  reference  to  this 
class,  and  must  behold  them  with  what  charity  it  can. 
Possibly  some  benefit  may  yet  accrue  from  them  to 
the  state.  Besides  our  coarse  implements,  there  must 
be  some  few  finer  instruments,  —  rain-gauges,  ther 
mometers,  and  telescopes ;  and  in  society,  besides  far- 


BOSTON  "TRANSCENDENTALISM."          155 

mers,  sailors,  and  weavers,  there  must  be  a  few  persons 
of  purer  fire  kept  specially  as  gauges  and  meters  of 
character ;  persons  of  a  fine,  detecting  instinct,  who 
note  the  smallest  accumulations  of  wit  and  feeling  in 
the  by-stander.  Perhaps  too  there  might  be  room  for 
the  exciters  and  monitors ;  collectors  of  the  heavenly 
spark,  with  power  to  convey  the  electricity  to  others. 
Or,  as  the  storm-tossed  vessel  at  sea  speaks  the  frigate 
or  "  line-packet "  to  learn  its  longitude,  so  it  may  not 
be  without  its  advantage  that  we  should  now  and 
then  encounter  rare  and  gifted  men,  to  compare  the 
points  of  our  spiritual  compass,  and  verify  our  bear 
ings  from  superior  chronometers." 

It  must  be  confessed  that  it  is  not  a  very  cap 
tivating  picture  which  Emerson  draws  of  some 
of  his  transcendental  friends.  Their  faults  were 
naturally  still  more  obvious  to  those  outside  of 
their  charmed  circle,  and  some  prejudice,  very 
possibly,  mingled  with  their  critical  judgments. 
On  the  other  hand  we  have  the  evidence  of  a 
visitor  who  knew  a  good  deal  of  the  world  as  to 
the  impression  they  produced  upon  him :  — 

"There  has  sprung  up  in  Boston,"  says  Dickens, 
in  his  "  American  Notes,"  "  a  sect  of  philosophers 
known  as  Transcendentalists.  On  inquiring  what  this 
appellation  might  be  supposed  to  signify,  I  was  given 
to  understand  that  whatever  was  unintelligible  would 
be  certainly  Transcendental.  Not  deriving  much 
comfort  from  this  elucidation,  I  pursued  the  inquiry 


156  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

still  further,  and  found  that  the  Transcendentalists 
are  followers  of  my  friend  Mr.  Carlyle,  or,  I  should 
rather  say,  of  a  follower  of  his,  Mr.  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson.  This  gentleman  has  written  a  volume  of 
Essays,  in  which,  among  much  that  is  dreamy  and 
fanciful  (if  he  will  pardon  me  for  saying  so),  there 
is  much  more  that  is  true  and  manly,  honest  and 
bold.  Transcendentalism  has  its  occasional  vaga 
ries  (what  school  has  not?),  but  it  has  good  health 
ful  qualities  in  spite  of  them ;  not  least  among  the 
number  a  hearty  disgust  of  Cant,  and  an  aptitude  to 
detect  her  in  all  the  million  varieties  of  her  everlast 
ing  wardrobe.  And  therefore,  if  I  were  a  Boston- 
ian,  I  think  I  would  be  a  Transcendentalist." 

In  December,  1841,  Emerson  delivered  a  Lec 
ture  entitled  "The  Conservative."  It  was  a 
time  of  great  excitement  among  the  members  of 
that  circle  of  which  he  was  the  spiritual  leader. 
Never  did  Emerson  show  the  perfect  sanity 
which  characterized  his  practical  judgment  more 
beautifully  than  in  this  Lecture  and  in  his  whole 
course  with  reference  to  the  intellectual  agita 
tion  of  the  period.  He  is  as  fair  to  the  conser 
vative  as  to  the  reformer.  He  sees  the  fanati 
cism  of  the  one  as  well  as  that  of  the  other. 
"  Conservatism  tends  to  universal  seeming  and 
treachery ;  believes  in  a  negative  fate  ;  believes 
that  men's  tempers  govern  them ;  that  for  me 
it  avails  not  to  trust  in  principles,  they  will  fail 


A  JOURNAL  PROPOSED.  157 

me,  I  must  bend  a  little ;  it  distrusts  Nature ; 
it  thinks  there  is  a  general  law  without  a  par 
ticular  application,  —  law  for  all  that  does  not 
include  any  one.  Reform  in  its  antagonism  in 
clines  to  asinine  resistance,  to  kick  with  hoofs ; 
it  runs  to  egotism  and  bloated  self-conceit ;  it 
runs  to  a  bodiless  pretension,  to  unnatural  refin 
ing  and  elevation,  which  ends  in  hypocrisy  and 
sensual  reaction.  And  so,  whilst  we  do  not 
go  beyond  general  statements,  it  may  be  safely 
affirmed  of  these  two  metaphysical  antagonists 
that  each  is  a  good  half,  but  an  impossible 
whole." 

He  has  his  beliefs,  and,  if  you  will,  his  preju 
dices,  but  he  loves  fair  play,  and  though  he  sides 
with  the  party  of  the  future,  he  will  not  be  un 
just  to  the  present  or  the  past. 

We  read  in  a  letter  from  Emerson  to  Carlyle, 
dated  March  12,  1835,  that  Dr.  Channing  "lay 
awake  all  night,  he  told  my  friend  last  week, 
because  he  had  learned  in  the  evening  that  some 
young  men  proposed  to  issue  a  journal,  to  be 
called  '  The  Transcendentalist,'  as  the  organ  of 
a  spiritual  philosophy."  Again  on  the  30th  of 
April  of  the  same  year,  in  a  letter  in  which  he 
lays  out  a  plan  for  a  visit  of  Carlyle  to  this 
country,  Emerson  says  :  — 

"  It  was  suggested  that  if  Mr.  C.  would  undertake 


158  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

a  journal  of  which  we  have  talked  much,  but  which 
we  have  never  yet  produced,  he  would  do  us  great 
service,  and  we  feel  some  confidence  that  it  could  be 
made  to  secure  him  a  support.  It  is  that  project 
which  I  mentioned  to  you  in  a  letter  by  Mr.  Bar 
nard,  —  a  book  to  be  called  '  The  Transcendentalist ; ' 
or,  '  The  Spiritual  Inquirer,'  or  the  like.  .  .  .  Those 
who  are  most  interested  in  it  designed  to  make  gra 
tuitous  contribution  to  its  pages,  until  its  success 
could  be  assured." 

The  idea  of  the  grim  Scotchman  as  editor  of 
what  we  came  in  due  time  to  know  as  "The 
Dial !  "  A  concert  of  singing  mice  with  a  sav 
age  and  hungry  old  grimalkin  as  leader  of  the 
orchestra !  It  was  much  safer  to  be  content 
with  Carlyle's  purring  from  his  own  side  of  the 
water,  as  thus :  — 

"  '  The  Boston  Transcendentalist,'  whatever 
the  fate  or  merit  of  it  may  prove  to  be,  is  surely 
an  interesting  symptom.  There  must  be  things 
not  dreamt  of  over  in  that  Transoceanic  par 
ish!  I  shall  certainly  wish  well  to  this  thing; 
and  hail  it  as  the  sure  forerunner  of  things 
better." 

There  were  two  notable  products  of  the  intel 
lectual  ferment  of  the  Transcendental  period 
which  deserve  an  incidental  notice  here,  from 
the  close  connection  which  Emerson  had  with 


"  THE  DIAL."  159 

one  of  them  and  the  interest  which  he  took  in 
the  other,  in  which  many  of  his  friends  were 
more  deeply  concerned.  These  were  the  peri 
odical  just  spoken  of  as  a  possibility  realized, 
and  the  industrial  community  known  as  Brook 
Farm.  They  were  to  a  certain  extent  synchro 
nous,  —  the  Magazine  beginning  in  July,  1840, 
and  expiring  in  April,  1844 ;  Brook  Farm  being 
organized  in  1841,  and  breaking  up  in  1847. 

"The  Dial"  was  edited  at  first  by  Margaret 
Fuller,  afterwards  by  Emerson,  who  contributed 
more  than  forty  articles  in  prose  and  verse, 
among  them  "  The  Conservative,"  "  The  Tran- 
scendentalist,"  "  Chardon  Street  and  Bible  Con 
vention,"  and  some  of  his  best  and  best  known 
poems,  "The  Problem,"  "  Woodnotes,"  "The 
Sphinx,"  "  Fate."  The  other  principal  writers 
were  Margaret  Fuller,  A.  Bronson  Alcott, 
George  Blpley,  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Theo 
dore  Parker,  William  H.  Channing,  Henry 
Thoreau,  Eliot  Cabot,  John  S.  Dwight,  C.  P. 
Cranch,  William  Ellery  Channing,  Mrs.  Ellen 
Hooper,  and  her  sister  Mrs.  Caroline  Tappan. 
Unequal  as  the  contributions  are  in  merit,  the 
periodical  is  of  singular  interest.  It  was  con 
ceived  and  carried  on  in  a  spirit  of  boundless 
hope  and  enthusiasm.  Time  and  a  narrowing 
subscription  list  proved  too  hard  a  trial,  and  its 
four  volumes  remain  stranded,  like  some  rare 


160  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

and  curiously  patterned  shell  which  a  storm  of 
yesterday  has  left  beyond  the  reach  of  the  reced 
ing  waves.  Thoreau  wrote  for  nearly  every  num 
ber.  Margaret  Fuller,  less  attractive  in  print 
than  in  conversation,  did  her  part  as  a  contribu 
tor  as  well  as  editor.  Theodore  Parker  came 
down  with  his  "trip-hammer"  in  its  pages. 
Mrs.  Ellen  Hooper  published  a  few  poems  in 
its  columns  which  remain,  always  beautiful,  in 
many  memories.  Others,  whose  literary  lives 
have  fulfilled  their  earlier  promise,  and  who  are 
still  with  us,  helped  forward  the  new  enterprise 
with  their  frequent  contributions.  It  is  a  pleas 
ure  to  turn  back  to  "The  Dial,"  with  all  its 
crudities.  It  should  be  looked  through  by  the 
side  of  the  "Anthology."  Both  were  April 
buds,  opening  before  the  frosts  were  over,  but 
with  the  pledge  of  a  better  season. 

We  get  various  hints  touching  the  new  Mag 
azine  in  the  correspondence  between  Emerson 
and  Carlyle.  Emerson  tells  Carlyle,  a  few 
months  before  the  first  number  appeared,  that 
it  will  give  him  a  better  knowledge  of  our  young 
people  than  any  he  has  had.  It  is  true  that  un 
fledged  writers  found  a  place  to  try  their  wings 
in  it,  and  that  makes  it  more  interesting.  This 
was  the  time  above  all  others  when  out  of  the 
mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings  was  to  come  forth 
strength.  The  feeling  that  intuition  was  discov- 


"THE  DIAL."  161 

ering  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  was  the 
inspiration  of  these  "  young  people "  to  whom 
Emerson  refers.  He  has  to  apologize  for  the 
first  number.  "  It  is  not  yet  much,"  he  says ; 
"indeed,  though  no  copy  has  come  to  me,  I 
know  it  is  far  short  of  what  it  should  be,  for 
they  have  suffered  puffs  and  dulness  to  creep 
in  for  the  sake  of  the  complement  of  pages,  but 
it  is  better  than  anything  we  had.  —  The  Ad 
dress  of  the  Editors  to  the  Readers  is  all  the 
prose  that  is  mine,  and  whether  they  have 
printed  a  few  verses  for  me  I  do  not  know." 
They  did  print  "  The  Problem."  There  were 
also  some  fragments  of  criticism  from  the  writ 
ings  of  his  brother  Charles,  and  the  poem  called 
"  The  Last  Farewell,"  by  his  brother  Edward, 
which  is  to  be  found  in  Emerson's  "  May-day 
and  other  Pieces." 

On  the  30th  of  August,  after  the  periodical 
had  been  published  a  couple  of  months,  Emer 
son  writes :  — 

"  Our  community  begin  to  stand  in  some  terror 
of  Transcendentalism ;  and  the  Dial,  poor  little  thing, 
whose  first  number  contains  scarce  anything  consider 
able  or  even  visible,  is  just  now  honored  by  attacks 
from  almost  every  newspaper  and  magazine  ;  which 
at  least  betrays  the  irritability  and  the  instincts  of  the 
good  public." 

Carlyle   finds   the   second   number  of   "The 
n 


162  RALPH  WALDO  EMEJtSON. 

Dial "  better  than  the  first,  and  tosses  his  chari 
table  recognition,  as  if  into  an  alms-basket,  with 
his  usual  air  of  superiority.  He  distinguishes 
what  is  Emerson's  readily,  —  the  rest  he  speaks 
of  as  the  work  of  ol  TroXXot  for  the  most  part. 
"  But  it  is  all  good  and  very  good  as  a  soul  ; 
wants  only  a  body,  which  want  means  a  great 
deal."  And  again,  " '  The  Dial,'  too,  it  is  all 
spirit  like,  aeri-form,  aurora-borealis  like.  Will 
no  Angel  body  himself  out  of  that ;  no  stalwart 
Yankee  man,  with  color  in  the  cheeks  of  him 
and  a  coat  on  his  back  ?  " 

Emerson,  writing  to  Carlyle  in  March,  1842, 
speaks  of  the  "  dubious  approbation  on  the  part 
of  you  and  other  men,"  notwithstanding  which 
he  found  it  with  "a  certain  class  of  men  and 
women,  though  few,  an  object  of  tenderness  and 
religion."  So,  when  Margaret  Fuller  gave  it 
Up,  at  the  end  of  the  second  volume,  Emerson 
consented  to  become  its  editor.  "  I  cannot  bid 
you  quit  '  The  Dial,'  "  says  Carlyle,  "  though 
it,  too,  alas,  is  Antinomian  somewhat !  Perge, 
perge,  nevertheless." 

In  the  next  letter  he  says  :  — 

"  I  love  your  '  Dial,'  and  yet  it  is  with  a  kind  of 
shudder.  You  seem  to  me  in  danger  of  dividing 
yourselves  from  the  Fact  of  this  present  Universe,  in 
which  alone,  ugly  as  it  is,  can  I  find  any  anchorage, 
and  soaring  away  after  Ideas,  Beliefs,  Revelations 


"  THE  DIAL.1'  163 

and  such  like,  —  into  perilous  altitudes,  as  I  think ; 
beyond  the  curve  of  perpetual  frost,  for  one  thing. 
I  know  not  how  to  utter  what  impression  you  give 
me  ;  take  the  above  as  some  stamping  of  the  fore- 
hoof." 

A  curious  way  of  characterizing  himself  as  a 
critic,  —  but  he  was  not  always  as  well-mannered 
as  the  Houyhnhnms. 

To  aU  Carlyle's  complaints  of  "  The  Dial's  " 
short-comings  Emerson  did  not  pretend  to  give 
any  satisfactory  answer,  but  his  plea  of  guilty, 
with  extenuating  circumstances,  is  very  honest 
and  definite. 

"  For  the  Dial  and  its  sins,  I  have  no  defence  to 
set  up.  We  write  as  we  can,  and  we  know  very 
little  about  it.  If  the  direction  of  these  speculations 
is  to  be  deplored,  it  is  yet  a  fact  for  literary  history 
that  all  the  bright  boys  and  girls  in  New  England, 
quite  ignorant  of  each  other,  take  the  world  so,  and 
come  and  make  confession  to  fathers  and  mothers,  — 
the  boys,  that  they  do  not  wish  to  go  into  trade,  the 
girls,  that  they  do  not  like  morning  calls  and  evening 
parties.  They  are  all  religious,  but  hate  the  churches ; 
they  reject  all  the  ways  of  living  of  other  men,  but 
have  none  to  offer  in  their  stead.  Perhaps  one  of 
these  days  a  great  Yankee  shall  come,  who  will  easily 
do  the  unknown  deed." 

"  All  the  bright  boys  and  girls  in  New  Eng 
land,"  and  " '  The  Dial '  dying  of  inanition !  " 


164  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

In  October,  1840,  Emerson  writes  to  Car- 
lyle:- 

"  We  are  all  a  little  wild  here  with  numberless 
projects  of  social  reform.  Not  a  reading  man  but 
has  a  draft  of  a  new  community  in  his  waistcoat 
pocket.  I  am  gently  mad  myself,  and  am  resolved 
to  live  cleanly.  George  Ripley  is  talking  up  a  colony 
of  agriculturists  and  scholars,  with  whom  he  threat 
ens  to  take  the  field  and  the  book.  One  man  re-> 
nounces  the  use  of  animal  food  ;  and  another  of  coin  ; 
and  another  of  domestic  hired  service  ;  and  another 
of  the  state  ;  and  on  the  whole  we  have  a  commend 
able  share  of  reason  and  hope." 

Mr.  Ripley's  project  took  shape  in  the  West 
Roxbury  Association,  better  known  under  the 
name  of  Brook  Farm.  Emerson  was  not  in 
volved  in  this  undertaking.  He  looked  upon  it 
with  curiosity  and  interest,  as  he  would  have 
looked  at  a  chemical  experiment,  but  he  seems 
to  have  had  only  a  moderate  degree  of  faith  in  its 
practical  working.  "  It  was  a  noble  and  gener 
ous  movement  in  the  projectors  to  try  an  exper 
iment  of  better  living.  One  would  say  that  im 
pulse  was  the  rule  in  the  society,  without  centri 
petal  balance ;  perhaps  it  would  not  be  severe 
to  say,  intellectual  sans-culottism,  an  impatience 
of  the  formal  routinary  character  of  our  educa 
tional,  religious,  social,  and  economical  life  in 
Massachusetts." 


BROOK  FARM.  165 

The  reader  will  find  a  full  detailed  account 
of  the  Brook  Farm  experiment  in  Mr.  Frothing- 
ham's  "Life  of  George  Ripley,"  its  founder, 
and  the  first  President  of  the  Association.  Em 
erson  had  only  tangential  relations  with  the  ex 
periment,  and  tells  its  story  in  his  "  Historic 
Notes  "  very  kindly  and  respectfully,  but  with 
that  sense  of  the  ridiculous  in  the  aspect  of  some 
of  its  conditions  which  belongs  to  the  sagacious 
common-sense  side  of  his  nature.  The  married 
women,  he  says,  were  against  the  community. 
"  It  was  to  them  like  the  brassy  and  lacquered 
life  in  hotels.  The  common  school  was  well 
enough,  but  to  the  common  nursery  they  had 
grave  objections.  Eggs  might  be  hatched  in 
ovens,  but  the  hen  on  her  own  account  much 
preferred  the  old  way.  A  hen  without  her 
chickens  was  but  half  a  hen."  Is  not  the  in 
audible,  inward  laughter  of  Emerson  more  re 
freshing  than  the  explosions  of  our  noisiest 
humorists  ? 

This  is  his  benevolent  summing  up  :  — 

"The  founders  of  Brock  Farm  should  have  this 
praise,  that  they  made  what  all  people  try  to  make, 
an  agreeable  place  to  live  in.  All  comers,  even  the 
most  fastidious,  found  it  the  pleasantest  of  residences. 
It  is  certain,  that  freedom  from  household  routine, 
variety  of  character  and  talent,  variety  of  work,  vari 
ety  of  means  of  thought  and  instruction,  art,  music, 


166  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

poetry,  reading,  masquerade,  did  not  permit  slug 
gishness  or  despondency  ;  broke  up  routine.  There 
is  agreement  in  the  testimony  that  it  was,  to  most  of 
the  associates,  education ;  to  many,  the  most  impor 
tant  period  of  their  life,  the  birth  of  valued  friend 
ships,  their  first  acquaintance  with  the  riches  of  con 
versation,  their  training  in  behavior.  The  art  of  let 
ter-writing,  it  is  said,  was  immensely  cultivated.  Let 
ters  were  always  flying,  not  only  from  house  to  house, 
but  from  room  to  room.  It  was  a  perpetual  picnic, 
a  French  Revolution,  in  small,  an  Age  of  Reason  in  a 
patty-pan." 

The  public  edifice  called  the  "  Phalanstery  " 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1846.  The  Association 
never  recovered  from  this  blow,  and  soon  after 
wards  it  was  dissolved. 

§  2.  Emerson's  first  volume  of  his  collected 
Essays  was  published  in  1841.  In  the  reprint 
it  contains  the  following  Essays  :  History ; 
Self -Reliance ;  Compensation  ;  Spiritual  Laws  ; 
Love  ;  Friendship  ;  Prudence  ;  Heroism  ;  The 
Over  -  Soul  ;  Circles  ;  Intellect  ;  Art.  "  The 
Young  American,"  which  is  now  included  in  the 
volume,  was  not  delivered  until  1844. 

Once  accustomed  to  Emerson's  larger  for 
mulae  we  can  to  a  certain  extent  project  from 
our  own  minds  his  treatment  of  special  sub 
jects.  But  we  cannot  anticipate  the  daring  im- 


"HISTORY."  167 

agination,  the  subtle  wit,  the  curious  illustra 
tions,  the  felicitous  language,  which  make  the 
Lecture  or  the  Essay  captivating  as  read,  and 
almost  entrancing  as  listened  to  by  the  teacha 
ble  disciple.  The  reader  must  be  prepared  for 
occasional  extravagances.  Take  the  Essay  on 
History,  in  the  first  series  of  Essays,  for  in 
stance.  "  Let  it  suffice  that  in  the  light  of 
these  two  facts,  namely,  that  the  mind  is  One, 
and  that  nature  is  its  correlative,  history  is  to  be 
read  and  written."  When  we  come  to  the  ap 
plication,  in  the  same  Essay,  almost  on  the  same 
page,  what  can  we  make  of  such  discourse  as 
this  ?  The  sentences  I  quote  do  not  follow  im 
mediately,  one  upon  the  other,  but  their  sense 
is  continuous. 

"  I  hold  an  actual  knowledge  very  cheap. 
Hear  the  rats  in  the  wall,  see  the  lizard  on  the 
fence,  the  fungus  under  foot,  the  lichen  on  the 
log.  What  do  I  know  sympathetically,  morally, 
of  either  of  these  worlds  of  life  ?  —  How  many 
times  we  must  say  Rome  and  Paris,  and  Con 
stantinople  !  What  does  Rome  know  of  rat  and 
lizard  ?  What  are  Olympiads  and  Consulates 
to  these  neighboring  systems  of  being?  Nay, 
what  food  or  experience  or  succor  have  they  for 
the  Esquimau  seal-hunter,  for  the  Kamchatcan 
in  his  canoe,  for  the  fisherman,  the  stevedore, 
the  porter  ?  " 


168  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

The  connection  of  ideas  is  not  obvious.  One 
can  hardly  help  being  reminded  of  a  certain 
great  man's  Rochester  speech  as  commonly  re 
ported  by  the  story-teller.  "  Rome  in  her  proud 
est  da}rs  never  had  a  waterfall  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  high !  Greece  in  her  palmiest  days 
never  had  a  waterfall  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
high!  Men  of  Rochester,  go  on!  No  people 
ever  lost  their  liberty  who  had  a  waterfall  a 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high !  " 

We  cannot  help  smiling,  perhaps  laughing,  at 
the  odd  mixture  of  Rome  and  rats,  of  Olym 
piads  and  Esquimaux.  But  the  underlying  idea 
of  the  interdependence  of  all  that  exists  in  na 
ture  is  far  from  ridiculous.  Emerson  says,  not 
absurdly  or  extravagantly,  that  "  every  history 
should  be  written  in  a  wisdom  which  divined 
the  range  of  our  affinities  and  looked  at  facts  as 
symbols." 

We  have  become  familiar  with  his  doctrine 
of  "  Self-Reliance,"  which  is  the  subject  of  the 
second  lecture  of  the  series.  We  know  that  he 
always  and  everywhere  recognized  that  the  di 
vine  voice  which  speaks  authoritatively  in  the 
soul  of  man  is  the  source  of  all  our  wisdom.  It 
is  a  man's  true  self,  so  that  it  follows  that  abso 
lute,  supreme  self-reliance  is  the  law  of  his  being. 
But  see  how  he  guards  his  proclamation  of  self- 
reliance  as  the  guide  of  mankind. 


"COMPENSATION."— "SPIRITUAL  LAWS."     169 

"  Truly  it  demands  something  god-like  in  him  who 
has  cast  off  the  common  motives  of  humanity  and  has 
ventured  to  trust  himself  for  a  task-master.  High  be 
his  heart,  faithful  his  will,  clear  his  sight,  that  he 
may  in  good  earnest  he  doctrine,  society,  law,  to  him 
self,  that  a  simple  purpose  may  be  to  him  as  strong 
as  iron  necessity  is  to  others  !  " 

"  Compensation  "  might  be  preached  in  a 
synagogue,  and  the  Rabbi  would  be  praised  for 
his  performance.  Emerson  had  been  listening 
to  a  sermon  from  a  preacher  esteemed  for  his 
orthodoxy,  in  which  it  was  assumed  that  judg 
ment  is  not  executed  in  this  world,  that  the 
wicked  are  successful,  and  the  good  are  misera 
ble.  This  last  proposition  agrees  with  John 
Bunyan's  view :  — 

"  A  Christian  man  is  never  long  at  ease, 
When  one  fright 's  gone,  another  doth  him  seize." 

Emerson  shows  up  the  "  success  "  of  the  bad 
man  and  the  failures  and  trials  of  the  good  man 
in  their  true  spiritual  characters,  with  a  noble 
scorn  of  the  preacher's  low  standard  of  happi 
ness  and  misery,  which  would  have  made  him 
throw  his  sermon  into  the  fire. 

The  Essay  on  "  Spiritual  Laws  "  is  full  of 
pithy  sayings :  — 

"  As  much  virtue  as  there  is,  so  much  appears  ;  as 
much  goodness  as  there  is,  so  much  reverence  it  com- 


170  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

mands.  All  the  devils  respect  virtue.  —  A  man 
passes  for  that  he  is  worth.  —  The  ancestor  of  every 
action  is  a  thought.  —  To  think  is  to  act.  —  Let  a 
man  believe  in  God,  and  not  in  names  and  places  and 
persons.  Let  the  great  soul  incarnated  in  some  wo 
man's  form,  poor  and  sad  and  single,  in  some  Dolly 
or  Joan,  go  out  to  service  and  sweep  chambers  and 
scour  floors,  and  its  effulgent  day-beams  cannot  be 
hid,  but  to  sweep  and  scour  will  instantly  appear  su 
preme  and  beautiful  actions,  the  top  and  radiance  of 
human  life,  and  all  people  will  get  mops  and  brooms  ; 
until,  lo  !  suddenly  the  great  soul  has  enshrined  itself 
in  some  other  form  and  done  some  other  deed,  and 
that  is  now  the  flower  and  head  of  all  living  nature." 

This  is  not  any  the  worse  for  being  the  flow 
ering  out  of  a  poetical  bud  of  George  Herbert's. 
The  Essay  on  "  Love  "  is  poetical,  but  the  three 
poems,  "  Initial,"  "  Daemonic,"  and  "  Celestial 
Love  "  are  more  nearly  equal  to  his  subject  than 
his  prose. 

There  is  a  passage  in  the  Lecture  on  "  Friend 
ship  "  which  suggests  some  personal  relation  of 
Emerson's  about  which  we  cannot  help  being 
inquisitive  :  — 

"  It  has  seemed  to  me  lately  more  possible  than  I 
knew,  to  carry  a  friendship  greatly,  on  one  side, 
without  due  correspondence  on  the  other.  Why 
should  I  cumber  myself  with  regrets  that  the  receiver 
is  not  capacious?  It  never  troubles  the  sun  that 


"PRUDENCE."  171 

some  of  his  rays  fall  wide  and  vain  into  ungrateful 
space,  and  only  a  small  part  on  the  reflecting  planet. 
Let  your  greatness  educate  the  crude  and  cold  com 
panion.  .  .  .  Yet  these  things  may  hardly  he  said 
without  a  sort  of  treachery  to  the  relation.  The 
essence  of  friendship  is  entireness,  a  total  magnanim 
ity  and  trust.  It  must  not  surmise  or  provide  for  in 
firmity.  It  treats  its  object  as  a  god  that  it  may 
deify  both." 

Was  he  thinking  of  his  relations  with  Car- 
lyle?  It  is  a  curious  subject  of  speculation 
what  would  have  been  the  issue  if  Carlyje  had 
come  to  Concord  and  taken  up  his  abode  under 
Emerson's  most  hospitable  roof.  "  You  shall 
not  come  nearer  a  man  by  getting  into  his 
house."  How  could  they  have  got  on  together  ? 
Emerson  was  well-bred,  and  Carlyle  was  wanting 
in  the  social  graces.  "  Come  rest  in  this  bo 
som  "  is  a  sweet  air,  heard  in  the  distance,  too 
apt  to  be  followed,  after  a  protracted  season  of 
close  proximity,  by  that  other  strain,  — 

"  No,  fly  me,  fly  me,  far  as  pole  from  pole  ! 
Rise  Alps  between  us  and  whole  oceans  roll !  " 

But  Emerson  may  have  been  thinking  of 
some  very  different  person,  perhaps  some  "  crude 
and  cold  companion"  among  his  disciples,  who 
was  not  equal  to  the  demands  of  friendly  inter 
course. 

He  discourses  wisely  on  "  Prudence,"  a  virtue 


172  RALPH    WALDO   EMERSON. 

which  he  does  not  claim  for  himself,  and  nobly 
on  "  Heroism,"  which  was  a  shining  part  of  his 
own  moral  and  intellectual  being. 

The  points  which  will  be  most  likely  to  draw 
the  reader's  attention  are  the  remarks  on  the 
literature  of  heroism ;  the  claim  for  our  own 
America,  for  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
River  and  Boston  Bay,  in  spite  of  our  love  for 
the  names  of  foreign  and  classic  topography ; 
and  most  of  all  one  sentence  which,  coming  from 
an  optimist  like  Emerson,  has  a  sound  of  sad 
sincerity  painful  to  recognize. 

"  Who  that  sees  the  meanness  of  our  politics  but 
inly  congratulates  Washington  that  he  is  long  already 
wrapped  in  his  shroud,  and  forever  safe  ;  that  he  was 
laid  sweet  in  his  grave,  the  hope  of  humanity  not  yet 
subjugated  in  him.  Who  does  not  sometimes  envy 
the  good  and  brave  who  are  no  more  to  suffer  from 
the  tumults  of  the  natural  world,  and  await  with  curi 
ous  complacency  the  speedy  term  of  his  own  conver 
sation  with  finite  nature  ?  And  yet  the  love  that  will 
be  annihilated  sooner  than  treacherous  has  already 
made  death  impossible,  and  affirms  itself  no  mortal, 
but  a  native  of  the  deeps  of  absolute  and  inextinguish 
able  being." 

In  the  following  Essay,  "The  Over-Soul,"  Em 
erson  has  attempted  the  impossible.  He  is  as 
fully  conscious  of  this  fact  as  the  reader  of  his 
rhapsody,  —  nay,  he  is  more  profoundly  pene- 


"THE   OVER-SOUL."  173 

trated  with  it  than  any  of  his  readers.  In 
speaking  of  the  exalted  condition  the  soul  is 
capable  of  reaching,  he  says,  — 

"  Every  man's  words,  who  speaks  from  that  life, 
must  sound  vain  to  those  who  do  not  dwell  in  the 
same  thought  on  their  own  part.  I  dare  not  speak 
for  it.  My  words  do  not  carry  its  august  sense ; 
they  fall  short  and  cold.  Only  itself  can  inspire 
whom  it  will,  and  behold !  their  speech  shall  be  lyrical 
and  sweet,  and  universal  as  the  rising  of  the  wind. 
Yet  I  desire,  even  by  profane  words,  if  I  may  not 
use  sacred,  to  indicate  the  heaven  of  this  deity,  and  to 
report  what  hints  I  have  collected  of  the  transcendent 
simplicity  and  energy  of  the  Highest  Law." 

"  The  Over-Soul "  might  almost  be  called  the 
Over-flow  of  a  spiritual  imagination.  We  can 
not  help  thinking  of  the  "  pious,  virtuous,  God- 
intoxicated"  Spinoza.  When  one  talks  of  the 
infinite  in  terms  borrowed  from  the  finite,  when 
one  attempts  to  deal  with  the  absolute  in  the 
language  of  the  relative,  his  words  are  not  sym 
bols,  like  those  applied  to  the  objects  of  expe 
rience,  but  the  shadows  of  symbols,  varying  with 
the  position  and  intensity  of  the  light  of  the 
individual  intelligence.  It  is  a  curious  amuse 
ment  to  trace  many  of  these  thoughts  and  ex 
pressions  to  Plato,  or  Plotinus,  or  Proclus,  or 
Porphyry,  to  Spinoza  or  Schelling,  but  the  same 
tune  is  a  different  thing  according  to  the  instru- 


174  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

ment  on  which  it  is  played.  There  are  songs 
without  words,  and  there  are  states  in  which,  in 
place  of  the  trains  of  thought  moving  in  endless 
procession  with  ever-varying  figures  along  the 
highway  of  consciousness,  the  soul  is  possessed 
by  a  single  all-absorbing  idea,  which,  in  the 
highest  state  of  spiritual  exaltation,  becomes  a 
vision.  Both  Plotinus  and  Porphyry  believed 
they  were  privileged  to  look  upon  Him  whom 
"  no  man  can  see  and  live." 

But  Emerson  states  his  own  position  so  frankly 
in  his  Essay  entitled  "  Circles,"  that  the  reader 
cannot  take  issue  with  him  as  against  utterances 
which  he  will  not  defend.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  he  would  have  confessed  as  much  with  ref 
erence  to  "The  Over-Soul"  as  he  has  confessed 
with  regard  to  "  Circles,"  the  Essay  which  fol 
lows  "  The  Over-Soul." 

"  I  am  not  careful  to  justify  myself.  .  .  .  But  lest 
1  should  mislead  any  when  I  have  my  own  head  and 
obey  my  whims,  let  me  remind  the  reader  that  I  am 
only  an  experimenter.  Do  not  set  the  least  value  on 
what  I  do,  or  the  least  discredit  on  what  I  do  not,  as 
if  I  pretended  to  settle  anything  as  true  or  false.  I 
unsettle  all  things.  No  facts  are  to  me  sacred ;  none 
are  profane  ;  I  simply  experiment,  an  endless  seeker, 
with  no  Past  at  my  back." 

Perhaps,  after  reading  these  transcendental 
essays  of  Emerson,  we  might  borrow  Goethe's 


"  CIRCLES:'  —  "  INTELLECT:1  —  "  ART."      175 

language  about  Spinoza,  as  expressing  the  feel 
ing  with  which  we  are  left. 

"  I  am  reading  Spinoza  with  Frau  von  Stein.  I 
feel  myself  very  near  to  him,  though  his  soul  .is  much 
deeper  and  purer  than  mine. 

"  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  read  Spinoza  straight 
through,  that  at  any  time  the  complete  architecture 
of  his  intellectual  system  has  stood  clear  in  view  he- 
fore  me.  But  when  I  look  into  him  I  seem  to  under 
stand  him,  —  that  is,  he  always  appears  to  me  con 
sistent  with  himself,  and  I  can  always  gather  from 
him  very  salutary  influences  for  my  own  way  of 
feeling  and  acting." 

Emerson  would  not  have  pretended  that  he 
was  always  "  consistent  with  himself,"  but  these 
"  salutary  influences,"  restoring,  enkindling,  vivi 
fying,  are  felt  by  many  of  his  readers  who  would 
have  to  confess,  like  Dr.  Walter  Channing,  that 
these  thoughts,  or  thoughts  like  these,  as  he 
listened  to  them  in  a  lecture,  "  made  his  head 
ache." 

The  three  essays  which  follow  "  The  Over- 
Soul,"  "Circles,"  "Intellect,"  " Art,"  would  fur- 
nish  us  a  harvest  of  good  sayings,  some  of  which 
we  should  recognize  as  parts  of  our  own  (bor 
rowed)  axiomatic  wisdom. 

"  Beware  when  the  great  God  lets  loose  a  thinker 
on  this  planet.  Then  all  things  are  at  risk." 

"  God  enters  by  a  private  door  into  every  indi 
vidual." 


176  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  God  offers  to  every  mind  its  choice  between  truth 
and  repose.  Take  which  you  please,  —  you  can  never 
have  both." 

"  Though  we  travel  the  world  over  to  find  the 
beautiful,  we  must  carry  it  with  us,  or  we  find  it 
not." 

But  we  cannot  reconstruct  the  Hanging  Gar 
dens  with  a  few  bricks  from  Babylon. 

Emerson  describes  his  mode  of  life  in  these 
years  in  a  letter  to  Carlyle,  dated  May  10, 
1838. 

"  I  occupy,  or  improve,  as  we  Yankees  say,  two 
acres  only  of  God's  earth ;  on  which  is  my  house,  my 
kitchen-garden,  my  orchard  of  thirty  young  trees, 
my  empty  barn.  My  house  is  now  a  very  good  one 
for  comfort,  and  abounding  in  room.  Besides  my 
house,  I  have,  I  believe,  $22,000,  whose  income  in 
ordinary  years  is  six  per  cent.  I  have  no  other  tithe 
or  glebe  except  the  income  of  my  winter  lectures, 
which  was  last  winter  $800.  Well,  with  this  income, 
here  at  home,  I  am  a  rich  man.  I  stay  at  home  and 
go  abroad  at  my  own  instance.  I  have  food,  warmth, 
leisure,  books,  friends.  Go  away  from  home,  I  am 
rich  no  longer.  I  never  have  a  dollar  to  spend  on  a 
fancy.  As  no  wise  man,  I  suppose,  ever  was  rich  in 
the  sense  of  freedom  to  spend,  because  of  the  inun 
dation  of  claims,  so  neither  am  I,  who  am  not  wise. 
But  at  home,  I  am  rich,  —  rich  enough  for  ten 
brothers.  My  wife  Lidian  is  an  incarnation  of  Chris 
tianity,  —  I  call  her  Asia,  —  and  keeps  my  philosophy 


DEATH  OF  EMERSON'S  SON.  177 

from  Antinomianism ;  my  mother,  whitest,  mildest, 
most  conservative  of  ladies,  whose  only  exception  to 
her  universal  preference  for  old  things  is  her  son ; 
my  boy,  a  piece  of  love  and  sunshine,  well  worth  my 
watching  from  morning  to  night ;  —  these,  and  three 
domestic  women,  who  cook,  and  sew  and  run  for  us, 
make  all  my  household.  Here  I  sit  and  read  and 
write,  with  very  little  system,  and,  as  far  as  re 
gards  composition,  with  the  most  fragmentary  result : 
paragraphs  incompressible,  each  sentence  an  infinitely 
repellent  particle." 

A  great  sorrow  visited  Emerson  and  his  house 
hold  at  this  period  of  his  life.  On  the  30th 
of  October,  1841,  lie  wrote  to  Carlyle  :  "  My 
little  boy  is  five  years  old  to-day,  and  almost  old 
enough  to  send  you  his  love." 

Three  months  later,  on  the  28th  of  February, 
1842,  he  writes  once  more  :  — 

"  My  dear  friend,  you  should  have  had  this  letter 
and  these  messages  by  the  last  steamer  ;  but  when  it 
sailed,  my  son,  a  perfect  little  boy  of  five  years  and 
three  months,  had  ended  his  earthly  life.  You  can 
never  sympathize  with  me  ;  you  can  never  know  how 
much  of  me  such  a  young  child  can  take  away.  A 
few  weeks  ago  I  accounted  myself  a  very  rich  man, 
and  now  the  poorest  of  all.  What  would  it  avail  to 
tell  you  anecdotes  of  a  sweet  and  wonderful  boy,  such 
as  we  solace  and  sadden  ourselves  with  at  home  every 
morning  and  evening?  From  a  perfect  health  and 
as  happy  a  life  and  as  happy  influences  as  ever  child 
12 


178  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

enjoyed,  he  was  hurried  out  of  my  arms  in  three  short 
days  by  scarlatina.  We  have  two  habes  yet,  one  girl 
of  three  years,  and  one  girl  of  three  months  and 
a  week,  but  a  promise  like  that  Boy's  I  shall  never 
see.  How  often  I  have  pleased  myself  that  one  day 
I  should  send  to  you  this  Morning  Star  of  mine,  and 
stay  at  home  so  gladly  behind  such  a  representative. 
I  dare  not  fathom  the  Invisible  and  Untold  to  inquire 
what  relations  to  my  Departed  ones  I  yet  sustain." 

This  was  the  boy  whose  memory  lives  in  the 
tenderest  and  most  pathetic  of  Emerson's  poems, 
the  "  Threnody,"  —  a  lament  not  unworthy  of 
comparison  with  Lycidas  for  dignity,  but  full 
of  the  simple  pathos  of  Cowper's  well-remem 
bered  lines  on  the  receipt  of  his  mother's  pic 
ture,  in  the  place  of  Milton's  sonorous  academic 
phrases. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1843-1848.    ^ET.  40-45. 


"  The  Young  American."  —  Address  on  the  Anniversary  of 
the  Emancipation  of  the  Negroes  in  the  British  West  In 
dies.1  —  Publication  of  the  Second  Series  of  Essays.  —  Con 
tents  :  The  Poet.  —  Experience.  —  Character.  —  Manners. 
—  Gifts.  —  Nature.  —  Politics.  —  Nominalist  and  Realist.  — 
New  England  Reformers.  —  Publication  of  Poems.  —  Second 
Visit  to  England. 

EMERSON  was  American  in  aspect,  tempera 
ment,  way  of  thinking,  and  feeling;  American, 
with  an  atmosphere  of  Oriental  idealism  ;  Amer 
ican,  so  far  as  he  belonged  to  any  limited  part 
of  the  universe.  He  believed  in  American  insti 
tutions,  he  trusted  the  future  of  the  American 
race.  In  the  address  first  mentioned  in  the 
contents  of  this  chapter,  delivered  February  7, 
1844,  he  claims  for  this  country  all  that  the 
most  ardent  patriot  could  ask.  Not  a  few  of  his 
fellow-countrymen  will  feel  the  significance  of 
the  following  contrast. 

"The  English  have  many  virtues,  many  advan- 

1  These  two  addresses  are  to  be  found  in  the  first  and  elev 
enth  volumes,  respectively,  of  the  last  collective  edition  of 
Emerson's  works,  namely,  "  Nature,  Addresses,  and  Lectures," 
and  "Miscellanies." 


180  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

tages,  and  the  proudest  history  in  the  world  ;  but 
they  need  all  and  more  than  all  the  resources  of  the 
past  to  indemnify  a  heroic  gentleman  in  that  coun 
try  for  the  mortifications  prepared  for  him  by  the 
system  of  society,  and  which  seem  to  impose  the  al 
ternative  to  resist  or  to  avoid  it.  ...  It  is  for  Eng 
lishmen  to  consider,  not  for  us  ;  we  only  say,  Let  us 
live  in  America,  too  thankful  for  our  want  of  feudal 
institutions.  ...  If  only  the  men  are  employed  in 
conspiring  with  the  designs  of  the  Spirit  who  led  us 
hither,  and  is  leading  us  still,  we  shall  quickly  enough 
advance  out  of  all  hearing  of  others'  censures,  out  of 
all  regrets  of  our  own,  into  a  new  and  more  excel 
lent  social  state  than  history  has  recorded." 

Thirty  years  have  passed  since  the  lecture 
from  which  these  passages  are  taken  was  de 
livered.  The  "  Young  American  "  of  that  day 
is  the  more  than  middle-aged  American  of  the 
present.  The  intellectual  independence  of  our 
country  is  far  more  solidly  established  than 
when  this  lecture  was  written.  But  the  social 
alliance  between  certain  classes  of  Americans 
and  English  is  more  and  more  closely  cemented 
from  year  to  year,  as  the  wealth  of  the  new  world 
burrows  its  way  among  the  privileged  classes  of 
the  old  world.  It  is  a  poor  ambition  for  the 
possessor  of  suddenly  acquired  wealth  to  have  it 
appropriated  as  a  feeder  of  the  impaired  for 
tunes  of  a  deteriorated  household,  with  a  family 
record  of  which  its  representatives  are  unworthy. 


"THE  POET."  181 

The  plain  and  wholesome  language  of  Emerson 
is  on  the  whole  more  needed  now  than  it  was 
when  spoken.  His  words  have  often  been  ex 
tolled  for  their  stimulating  quality;  following 
the  same  analogy,  they  are,  as  in  this  address,  in 
a  high  degree  tonic,  bracing,  strengthening  to 
the  American,  who  requires  to  be  reminded  of 
his  privileges  that  he  may  know  and  find  him 
self  equal  to  his  duties. 

On  the  first  day  of  August,  1844,  Emerson 
delivered  in  Concord  an  address  on  the  Anni 
versary  of  the  Emancipation  of  the  Negroes  in 
the  British  West  India  Islands.  This  discourse 
would  not  have  satisfied  the  Abolitionists.  It 
was  too  general  in  its  propositions,  full  of  humane 
and  generous  sentiments,  but  not  looking  to  their 
extreme  and  immediate  method  of  action. 

Emerson's  second  series  of  Essays  was  pub 
lished  in  1844.  There  are  many  sayings  in  the 
Essay  called  "  The  Poet,"  which  are  meant  for 
the  initiated,  rather  than  for  him  who  runs,  to 
read :  — 

"  All  that  we  call  sacred  history  attests  that  the 
birth  of  a  poet  is  the  principal  event  in  chronology." 

Does  this  sound  wild  and  extravagant  ?  What 
were  the  political  ups  and  downs  of  the  Hebrews, 


182  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

—  what  were  the  squabbles  of  the  tribes  with 
each  other,  or  with  their  neighbors,  compared 
to  the  birth  of  that  poet  to  whom  we  owe  the 
Psalms,  —  the  sweet  singer  whose  voice  is  still 
the  dearest  of  all  that  ever  sang  to  the  heart 
of  mankind? 

The  poet  finds  his  materials  everywhere,  as 
Emerson  tells  him  in  this  eloquent  apostrophe :  — 

"  Thou  true  land-bird  !  sea-bird  !  air-bird  !  Wher 
ever  snow  falls,  or  water  flows,  or  birds  fly,  wherever 
day  and  night  meet  in  twilight,  wherever  the  blue 
heaven  is  hung  by  clouds,  or  sown  with  stars,  wher 
ever  are  forms  with  transparent  boundaries,  wherever 
are  outlets  into  celestial  space,  wherever  is  danger 
and  awe  and  love,  there  is  Beauty,  plenteous  as  rain, 
shed  for  thee,  and  though  thou  should'st  walk  the 
world  over,  thou  shalt  not  be  able  to  find  a  condition 
inopportune  or  ignoble." 

"  Experience "  is,  as  he  says  himself,  but  a 
fragment.  It  bears  marks  of  having  been  writ 
ten  in  a  less  tranquil  state  of  mind  than  the 
other  essays.  His  most  rmportant  confession  is 
this :  — 

"All  writing  comes  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  all 
doing  and  having.  I  would  gladly  be  moral  and 
keep  due  metes  and  bounds,  which  I  dearly  love, 
and  allow  the  most  to  the  will  of  man ;  but  I  have 
set  my  heart  on  honesty  in  this  chapter,  and  I  can 
see  nothing  at  last,  in  success  or  failure,  than  more  or 
less  of  vital  force  supplied  from  the  Eternal." 


"  CHARA  CTER."  —  "  MANNERS."  183 

The  Essay  on  "  Character  "  requires  no  diffi 
cult  study,  but  is  well  worth  the  trouble  of  read 
ing.  A  few  sentences  from  it  show  the  prevail 
ing  tone  and  doctrine. 

"  Character  is  Nature  in  the  highest  form.  It  is 
of  no  use  to  ape  it,  or  to  contend  with  it.  Somewhat 
is  possible  of  resistance  and  of  persistence  and  of 
creation  to  this  power,  which  will  foil  all  emulation." 

"  There  is  a  class  of  men,  individuals  of  which  ap 
pear  at  long  intervals,  so  eminently  endowed  with  in 
sight  and  virtue,  that  they  have  been  unanimously 
saluted  as  divine,  and  who  seem  to  be  an  accumula 
tion  of  that  power  we  consider. 

"  The  history  of  those  gods  and  saints  which  the 
world  has  written,  and  then  worshipped,  are  doc 
uments  of  character.  The  ages  have  exulted  in  the 
manners  of  a  youth  who  owed  nothing  to  fortune,  and 
who  was  hanged  at  the  Tyburn  of  his  nation,  who, 
by  the  pure  quality  of  his  nature,  shed  an  epic  splen 
dor  around  the  facts  of  his  death  which  has  trans 
figured  every  particular  into  an  universal  symbol  for 
the  eyes  of  mankind.  This  great  defeat  is  hitherto 
our  highest  fact." 

In  his  Essay  on  "  Manners,"  Emerson  gives 
us  his  ideas  of  a  gentleman  :  — 

"  The  gentleman  is  a  man  of  truth,  lord  of  his  own 
actions  and  expressing  that  lordship  in  his  behavior, 
not  in  any  manner  dependent  and  servile  either  on 
persons  or  opinions  or  possessions.  Beyond  this  fact 


184  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

of  truth  and  real  force,  the  word  denotes  good-nature 
or  benevolence  :  manhood  first,  and  then  gentleness. 
—  Power  first,  or  no  leading  class.  —  God  knows  that 
all  sorts  of  gentlemen  knock  at  the  door  :  but  when 
ever  used  in  strictness,  and  with  any  emphasis,  the 
name  will  be  found  to  point  at  original  energy.  — 
The  famous  gentlemen  of  Europe  have  been  of  this 
strong  type  :  Saladin,  Sapor,  the  Cid,  Julius  Caesar, 
Scipio,  Alexander,  Pericles,  and  the  lordliest  person 
ages.  They  sat  very  carelessly  in  their  chairs,  and 
were  too  excellent  themselves  to  value  any  condition 
at  a  high  rate.  —  I  could  better  eat  with  one  who 
did  not  respect  the  truth  or  the  laws  than  with  a 
sloven  and  unpresentable  person.  —  The  person  who 
screams,  or  uses  the  superlative  degree,  or  converses 
with  heat,  puts  whole  drawing-rooms  to  flight.  — - 1 
esteem  it  a  chief  felicity  of  this  country  that  it  excels 
in  woman." 

So  writes  Emerson,  and  proceeds  to  speak  of 
woman  in  language  which  seems  almost  to  pant 
for  rhythm  and  rhyme. 

This  essay  is  plain  enough  for  the  least  "  tran 
scendental  "  reader.  Franklin  would  have  ap 
proved  it,  and  was  himself  a  happy  illustration 
of  many  of  the  qualities  which  go  to  the  Emer 
sonian  ideal  of  good  manners,  a  typical  Amer 
ican,  equal  to  his  position,  always  as  much  so  in 
the  palaces  and  salons  of  Paris  as  in  the  Conti 
nental  Congress,  or  the  society  of  Philadelphia. 

"Gifts"  is  a  dainty  little  Essay  with  some  nice 


"  GIFTS."  —  "  NATURE."  185 

distinctions  and  some  hints  which  may  help  to 
give  form  to  a  generous  impulse  :  — 

"  The  only  gift  is  a  portion  of  thyself.  Thou  must 
bleed  for  me.  Therefore  the  poet  brings  his  poem  ; 
the  shepherd,  his  lamb  ;  the  farmer,  corn ;  the  miner, 
a  gem  ;  the  sailor,  coral  and  shells  ;  the  painter,  his 
picture  ;  the  girl,  a  handkerchief  of  her  own  sewing." 

"  Flowers  and  fruits  are  always  fit  presents ;  flow 
ers,  because  they  are  a  proud  assertion  that  a  ray 
of  beauty  outvalues  all  the  utilities  of  the  world.  — 
Fruits  are  acceptable  gifts,  because  they  are  the  flower 
of  commodities,  and  admit  of  fantastic  values  being 
attached  to  them." 

"  It  is  a  great  happiness  to  get  off  without  injury 
and  heart-burning  from  one  who  has  had  the  ill-luck 
to  be  served  by  you.  It  is  a  very  onerous  business, 
this  of  being  served,  and  the  debtor  naturally  wishes 
to  give  you  a  slap." 

Emerson  hates  the  superlative,  but  he  does 
unquestionably  love  the  tingling  effect  of  a  witty 
over-statement. 

We  have  recognized  most  of  the  thoughts  in 
the  Essay  entitled  "  Nature,"  in  the  previous 
Essay  by  the  same  name,  and  others  which  we 
have  passed  in  review.  But  there  are  poetical 
passages  which  will  give  new  pleasure. 

Here  is  a  variation  of  the  formula  with  which 
we  are  familiar  :  — 


186  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  Nature  is  the  incarnation  of  a  thought,  and  turns 
to  a  thought  again,  as  ice  becomes  water  and  gas. 
The  world  is  mind  precipitated,  and  the  volatile  es 
sence  is  forever  escaping  again  into  the  state  of  freo 
thought." 

And  here  is  a  quaint  sentence  with  which  we 
may  take  leave  of  this  Essay  :  — 

"  They  say  that  hy  electro-magnetism,  your  salad 
shall  be  grown  from  the  seed,  whilst  your  fowl  is 
roasting  for  dinner :  it  is  a  symbol  of  our  modern 
aims  and  endeavors,  —  of  our  condensation  and  ac 
celeration  of  objects  ;  but  nothing  is  gained  :  nature 
cannot  be  cheated :  man's  life  is  but  seventy  salads 
long,  grow  they  swift  or  grow  they  slow." 

This  is  pretty  and  pleasant,  but  as  to  the  literal 
value  of  the  prediction,  M.  Jules  Verne  would  be 
the  best  authority  to  consult.  Poets  are  fond  of 
that  branch  of  science  which,  if  the  imaginative 
Frenchman  gave  it  a  name,  he  would  probably 
call  Onditologie. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  most  sanguine 
optimist  could  be  satisfied  with  the  condition  of 
the  American  political  world  at  the  present  time, 
or  when  the  Essay  on  "  Politics  "  was  written, 
some  years  before  the  great  war  which  changed 
the  aspects  of  the  country  in  so  many  respects,  still 
leaving  the  same  party  names,  and  many  of  the 
characters  of  the  old  parties  unchanged.  This 
is  Emerson's  view  of  them  as  they  then  were  :  — 


"POLITICS."  187 

"  Of  the  two  great  parties,  which,  at  this  hour,  al 
most  share  the  nation  between  them,  I  should  say 
that  one  has  the  best  cause,  and  the  other  contains 
the  best  men.  The  philosopher,  the  poet,  or  the 
religious  man,  will,  of  course,  wish  to  cast  his  vote 
with  the  democrat,  for  free  trade,  for  wide  suffrage, 
for  the  abolition  of  legal  cruelties  in  the  penal  code, 
and  for  facilitating  in  every  manner  the  access  of  the 
young  and  the  poor  to  the  sources  of  wealth  and 
power.  But  he  can  rarely  accept  the  persons  whom 
the  so-called  popular  party  propose  to  him  as  rep 
resentatives  of  these  liberties.  They  have  not  at 
heart  the  ends  which  give  to  the  name  of  democracy 
what  hope  and  virtue  are  in  it.  The  spirit  of  our 
American  radicalism  is  destructive  and  aimless  ;  it  is 
not  loving ;  it  has  no  ulterior  and  divine  ends ;  but 
is  destructive  only  out  of  hatred  and  selfishness.  On 
the  other  side,  the  conservative  party,  composed  of 
the  most  moderate,  able,  and  cultivated  part  of  the 
population,  is  timid,  and  merely  defensive  of  property. 
It  indicates  no  right,  it  aspires  to  no  real  good,  it 
brands  no  crime,  it  proposes  no  generous  policy,  it 
does  not  build  nor  write,  nor  cherish  the  arts,  nor 
foster  religion,  nor  establish  schools,  nor  encourage 
science,  nor  emancipate  the  slave,  nor  befriend  the 
poor,  or  the  Indian,  or  the  immigrant.  From  neither 
party,  when  in  power,  has  the  world  any  benefit  to 
expect  in  science,  art,  or  humanity,  at  all  commen 
surate  with  the  resources  of  the  nation." 

The  metaphysician  who  looks   for  a  closely 


188  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

reasoned  argument  on  the  famous  old  question 
which  so  divided  the  schoolmen  of  old  will  find 
a  very  moderate  satisfaction  in  the  Essay  enti 
tled  "  Nominalism  and  Realism."  But  there  are 
many  discursive  remarks  in  it  worth  gathering 
and  considering.  We  have  the  complaint  of  the 
Cambridge  "Phi  Beta  Kappa  Oration,"  reit 
erated,  that  there  is  no  complete  man,  but  only  a 
collection  of  fragmentary  men. 

As  a  Platonist  and  a  poet  there  could  not  be 
any  doubt  on  which  side  were  all  his  prejudices; 
but  he  takes  his  ground  cautiously. 

"  In  the  famous  dispute  with  the  Nominalists,  the 
Realists  had  a  good  deal  of  reason.  General  ideas  are 
essences.  They  are  our  gods  :  they  round  and  enno 
ble  the  most  practical  and  sordid  way  of  living. 

"Though  the  uninspired  man  certainly  finds  per 
sons  a  conveniency  in  household  matters,  the  divine 
man  does  not  respect  them :  he  sees  them  as  a  rack  of 
clouds,  or  a  fleet  of  ripples  which  the  wind  drives  over 
the  surface  of  the  water.  But  this  is  flat  rebellion. 
Nature  will  not  be  Buddhist :  she  resents  general 
izing,  and  insults  the  philosopher  in  every  moment 
with  a  million  of  fresh  particulars." 

New  England  Reformers.  —  Would  any  one 
venture  to  guess  how  Emerson  would  treat  this 
subject?  With  his  unsparing,  though  amiable 
radicalism,  his  excellent  common  sense,  his  deli 
cate  appreciation  of  the  ridiculous,  too  deep  for 


NEW  ENGLAND  REFORMERS.  189 

laughter,  as  Wordsworth's  thoughts  were  too 
deep  for  tears,  in  the  midst  of  a  band  of  en 
thusiasts  and  not  very  remote  from  a  throng  of 
fanatics,  what  are  we  to  look  for  from  our  philos 
opher  who  unites  many  characteristics  of  Berke 
ley  and  of  Franklin  ? 

We  must  remember  when  this  lecture  was 
written,  for  it  was  delivered  on  a  Sunday  in  the 
year  1844.  The  Brook  Farm  experiment  was  an 
index  of  the  state  of  mind  among  one  section  of 
the  Reformers  of  whom  he  was  writing.  To  re 
model  society  and  the  world  into  a  "happy 
family  "  was  the  aim  of  these  enthusiasts.  Some 
attacked  one  part  of  the  old  system,  some  an 
other  ;  some  would  build  a  new  temple,  some 
would  rebuild  the  old  church,  some  would  wor 
ship  in  the  fields  and  woods,  if  at  all ;  one  was 
for  a  phalanstery,  where  all  should  live  in  com 
mon,  and  another  was  meditating  the  plan  and 
place  of  the  wigwam  where  he  was  to  dwell  apart 
in  the  proud  independence  of  the  woodchuck  and 
the  musquash.  Emerson  had  the  largest  and 
kindliest  sympathy  with  their  ideals  and  aims, 
but  he  was  too  clear-eyed  not  to  see  through 
the  whims  and  extravagances  of  the  unpractical 
experimenters  who  would  construct  a  working 
world  with  the  lay  figures  they  had  put  together, 
instead  of  flesh  and  blood  men  and  women  and 
children  with  all  their  congenital  and  acquired 


190  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

perversities.     He  describes  these  Reformers  in 
his  own  good-naturedly  half-satirical  way :  — 

"  They  defied  each  other  like  a  congress  of  kings, 
each  of  whom  had  a  realm  to  rule,  and  a  way  of  his 
own  that  made  concert  unprofitable.  What  a  fertility 
of  projects  for  the  salvation  of  the  world !  One 
apostle  thought  ah1  men  should  go  to  farming ;  and 
another  that  no  man  should  buy  or  sell ;  that  the  use 
of  money  was  the  cardinal  evil ;  another  that  the 
mischief  was  in  our  diet,  that  we  eat  and  drink  dam 
nation.  These  made  unleavened  bread,  and  were 
foes  to  the  death  to  fermentation.  It  was  in  vain 
urged  by  the  housewife  that  God  made  yeast  as  well 
as  dough,  and  loves  fermentation  just  as  dearly  as  he 
does  vegetation;  that  fermentation  develops  the  sac 
charine  element  in  the  grain,  and  makes  it  more  pal 
atable  and  more  digestible.  No,  they  wish  the  pure 
wheat,  and  will  die  but  it  shall  not  ferment.  Stop, 
dear  nature,  these  innocent  advances  of  thine  ;  let  us 
scotch  these  ever-rolling  wheels  !  Others  attacked  the 
system  of  agriculture,  the  use  of  animal  manures  in 
farming ;  and  the  tyranny  of  man  over  brute  nature ; 
these  abuses  poUuted  his  food.  The  ox  must  be 
taken  from  the  plough,  and  the  horse  from  the  cart, 
the  hundred  acres  of  the  farm  must  be  spaded,  and 
the  man  must  walk  wherever  boats  and  locomotives 
will  not,  carry  him.  Even  the  insect  world  was  to  be 
defended,  —  that  had  been  too  long  neglected,  and  a 
society  for  the  protection  of  ground-worms,  slugs,  and 
mosquitoes  was  to  be  incorporated  without  delay.  With 
these  appeared  the  adepts  of  homoeopathy,  of  hydrop- 


NEW  ENGLAND  REFORMERS.  191 

athy,  of  mesmerism,  of  phrenology,  and  their  wonder 
ful  theories  of  the  Christian  miracles  !  " 

We  have  already  seen  the  issue  of  the  famous 
Brook  Farm  experiment,  which  was  a  practical 
outcome  of  the  reforming  agitation. 

Emerson  has  had  the  name  of  being  a  leader 
in  many  movements  in  which  he  had  very  limited 
confidence,  this  among  others  to  which  the  ideal 
izing  impulse  derived  from  him  lent  its  force,  but 
for  the  organization  of  which  he  was  in  no  sense 
responsible. 

He  says  in  the  lecture  we  are  considering  :  — 

"  These  new  associations  are  composed  of  men  and 
women  of  superior  talents  and  sentiments ;  yet  it  may 
easily  be  questioned  whether  such  a  community  will 
draw,  except  in  its  beginnings,  the  able  and  the  good ; 
whether  these  who  have  energy  will  not  prefer  their 
choice  of  superiority  and  power  in  the  world  to  the 
humble  certainties  of  the  association  ;  whether  such  a 
retreat  does  not  promise  to  become  an  asylum  to  those 
who  have  tried  and  failed  rather  than  a  field  to  the 
strong  ;  and  whether  the  members  will  not  necessarily 
be  fractions  of  men,  because  each  finds  that  he  cannot 
enter  into  it  without  some  compromise." 

His  sympathies  were  not  allowed  to  mislead 
him  ;  he  knew  human  nature  too  well  to  believe 
in  a  Noah's  ark  full  of  idealists. 

All  this  time  he  was  lecturing  for  his  support, 
giving  courses  of  lectures  in  Boston  and  other 


192  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

cities,  and  before  the  country  lyceums  in  and 
out  of  New  England. 

His  letters  to  Carlyle  show  how  painstaking, 
how  methodical,  how  punctual  he  was  in  the  busi 
ness  which  interested  his  distant  friend.  He  was 
not  fond  of  figures,  and  it  must  have  cost  him  a 
great  effort  to  play  the  part  of  an  accountant. 

He  speaks  also  of  receiving  a  good  deal  of 
company  in  the  summer,  and  that  some  of  this 
company  exacted  much  time  and  attention,  — 
more  than  he  could  spare,  —  is  made  evident  by 
his  gentle  complaints,  especially  in  his  poems, 
which  sometimes  let  out  a  truth  he  would  hardly 
have  uttered  in  prose. 

In  1846  Emerson's  first  volume  of  poems  was 
published.  Many  of  the  poems  had  Been  long 
before  the  public  —  some  of  the  best,  as  we  have 
seen,  having  been  printed  in  "  The  Dial."  It  is 
only  their  being  brought  together  for  the  first 
time  which  belongs  especially  to  this  period,  and 
we  can  leave  them  for  the  present,  to  be  looked 
over  by  and  by  in  connection  with  a  second 
volume  of  poems  published  in  1867,  under  the 
title,  "  May-Day  and  other  Pieces." 

In  October,  1847,  he  left  Concord  on  a  second 
visit  to  England,  which  will  be  spoken  of  in  the 
following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1848-1853.    &T.  45-50. 


The  "  Massachusetts  Quarterly  Review  ;  "  Visit  to  Europe.  — 
England.  —  Scotland.  —  France.  —  "  Representative  Men  " 
published.  I.  Uses  of  Great  Men.  II.  Plato  ;  or,  the  Phi 
losopher  ;  Plato  ;  New  Readings.  III.  Swedenborg  ;  or,  the 
Mystic.  IV.  Montaigne  ;  or,  the  Skeptic.  V.  Shake 
speare  ;  or,  the  Poet.  VI.  Napoleon  ;  or,  the  Man  of  the 
World.  VII.  Goethe  ;  or,  the  Writer.  —  Contribution  to 
the  "  Memoirs  of  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli." 

A  NEW  periodical  publication  was  begun  in 
Boston  in  1847,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Mas 
sachusetts  Quarterly  Review."  Emerson  wrote 
the  "  Editor's  Address,"  but  took  no  further  ac 
tive  part  in  it,  Theodore  Parker  being  the  real 
editor.  The  last  line  of  this  address  is  charac 
teristic  :  "  We  rely  on  the  truth  for  aid  against 
ourselves." 

On  the  5th  of  October,  1847,  Emerson  sailed 
for  Europe  on  his  second  visit,  reaching  Liver 
pool  on  the  22d  of  that  month.  Many  of  his 
admirers  were  desirous  that  he  should  visit  Eng 
land  and  deliver  some  courses  of  lectures.  Mr. 
Alexander  Ireland,  who  had  paid  him  friendly 
attentions  during  his  earlier  visit,  and  whose  im- 

13 


194  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

pressions  of  him  in  the  pulpit  have  been  given 
on  a  previous  page,  urged  his  coming.  Mr. 
Conway  quotes  passages  from  a  letter  of  Emer 
son's  which  show  that  he  had  some  hesitation 
in  accepting  the  invitation,  not  unmingled  with 
a  wish  to  be  heard  by  the  English  audiences 
favorably  disposed  towards  him. 

"  I  feel  no  call,"  he  said,  "  to  make  a  visit  of 
literary  propagandism  in  England.  All  my  im 
pulses  to  work  of  that  kind  would  rather  employ 
me  at  home."  He  does  not  like  the  idea  of 
"  coaxing  "  or  advertising  to  get  him  an  audience. 
He  would  like  to  read  lectures  before  institutions 
or  friendly  persons  who  sympathize  with  his 
studies.  He  has  had  a  good  many  decisive  tokens 
of  interest  from  British  men  and  women,  but  he 
doubts  whether  he  is  much  and  favorably  known 
in  any  one  city,  except  perhaps  in  London.  It 
proved,  however,  that  there  was  a  very  wide 
spread  desire  to  hear  him,  and  applications  for 
lectures  flowed  in  from  all  parts  of  the  king 
dom. 

From  Liverpool  he  proceeded  immediately  to 
Manchester,  where  Mr.  Ireland  received  him  at 
the  Victoria  station.  After  spending  a  few  hours 
with  him,  he  went  to  Chelsea  to  visit  Carlyle, 
and  at  the  end  of  a  week  returned  to  Manches 
ter  to  begin  the  series  of  lecturing  engagements 
which  had  been  arranged  for  him.  Mr.  Ireland's 


ENGLAND.  — SCOTLAND.  195 

account  of  Emerson's  visits  and  the  interviews 
between  him  and  many  distinguished  persons  is 
full  of  interest,  but  the  interest  largely  relates 
to  the  persons  visited  by  Emerson.  He  lectured 
at  Edinburgh,  where  his  liberal  way  of  thinking 
and  talking  made  a  great  sensation  in  orthodox 
circles.  But  he  did  not  fail  to  find  enthusiastic 
listeners.  A  young  student,  Mr.  George  Cupples, 
wrote  an  article  on  these  lectures  from  which,  as 
quoted  by  Mr.  Ireland,  I  borrow  a  single  sen 
tence,  —  one  only,  but  what  could  a  critic  say 
more  ? 

Speaking  of  his  personal  character,  as  revealed 
through  his  writings,  he  says :  "  In  this  respect, 
I  take  leave  to  think  that  Emerson  is  the  most 
mark-worthy,  the  loftiest,  and  most  heroic  mere 
man  that  ever  appeared."  Emerson  has  a  lec 
ture  on  the  superlative,  to  which  he  himself  was 
never  addicted.  But  what  would  youth  be  with 
out  its  extravagances,  —  its  preterpluperfect  in 
the  shape  of  adjectives,  its  unmeasured  and  un 
stinted  admiration  ? 

I  need  not  enumerate  the  celebrated  literary 
personages  and  other  notabilities  whom  Emerson 
met  in  England  and  Scotland.  He  thought  "  the 
two  finest  mannered  literary  men  he  met  in 
England  were  Leigh  Hunt  and  De  Quincey." 
His  diary  might  tell  us  more  of  the  impressions 
made  upon  him  by  the  distinguished  people  he 


196  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

met,  but  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  he  ever 
passed  such  inhuman  judgments  on  the  least 
desirable  of  his  new  acquaintances  as  his  friend 
Carlyle  has  left  as  a  bitter  legacy  behind  him. 
Carlyle's  merciless  discourse  about  Coleridge 
and  Charles  Lamb,  and  Swinburne's  carnivorous 
lines,  which  take  a  barbarous  vengeance  on  him 
for  his  offence,  are  on  the  level  of  political  rhet 
oric  rather  than  of  scholarly  criticism  or  charac 
terization.  Emerson  never  forgot  that  he  was 
dealing  with  human  beings.  He  could  not  have 
long  endured  the  asperities  of  Carlyle,  and  that 
"  loud  shout  of  laughter,"  which  Mr.  Ireland 
speaks  of  as  one  of  his  customary  explosions, 
would  have  been  discordant  to  Emerson's  ears, 
which  were  offended  by  such  noisy  manifesta 
tions. 

During  this  visit  Emerson  made  an  excursion 
to  Paris,  which  furnished  him  materials  for  a 
lecture  on  France  delivered  in  Boston,  in  1856, 
but  never  printed. 

From  the  lectures  delivered  in  England  he  se 
lected  a  certain  number  for  publication.  These 
make  up  the  volume  entitled  "  Representative 
Men,"  which  was  published  in  1850.  I  will 
give  very  briefly  an  account  of  its  contents.  The 
title  was  a  happy  one,  and  has  passed  into  liter 
ature  and  conversation  as  an  accepted  and  con 
venient  phrase.  It  would  teach  us  a  good  deal 


PLATO.  197 

merely  to  consider  the  names  he  has  selected  as 
typical,  and  the  ground  of  their  selection.  We 
get  his  classification  of  men  considered  as  lead 
ers  in  thought  and  in  action.  He  shows  his  own 
affinities  and  repulsions,  and,  as  everywhere, 
writes  his  own  biography,  no  matter  about  whom 
or  what  he  is  talking.  There  is  hardly  any  book 
of  his  better  worth  study  by  those  who  wish  to 
understand,  not  Plato,  not  Plutarch,  not  Napo 
leon,  but  Emerson  himself.  All  his  great  men 
interest  us  for  their  own  sake ;  but  we  know  a 
good  deal  about  most  of  them,  and  Emerson 
holds  the  mirror  up  to  them  at  just  such  an 
angle  that  we  see  his  own  face  as  well  as  that 
of  his  hero,  unintentionally,  unconsciously,  no 
doubt,  but  by  a  necessity  which  he  would  be  the 
first  to  recognize. 

Emerson  swears  by  no  master.  He  admires, 
but  always  with  a  reservation.  Plato  comes  near 
est  to  being  his  idol,  Shakespeare  next.  But  he 
says  of  all  great  men :  "  The  power  which  they 
communicate  is  not  theirs.  When  we  are  exalted 
by  ideas,  we  do  not  owe  this  to  Plato,  but  to  the 
idea,  to  which  also  Plato  was  debtor." 

Emerson  loves  power  as  much  as  Carlyle 
does;  he  likes  "rough  and  smooth,"  "scourges 
of  God,"  and  "darlings  of  the  human  race." 
He  likes  Julius  Caesar,  Charles  the  Fifth,  of 
Spain,  Charles  the  Twelfth,  of  Sweden,  Richard 
Plantagenet,  and  Bonaparte. 


198  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  I  applaud,"  he  says,  "  a  sufficient  man,  an  officer 
equal  to  his  office  ;  captains,  ministers,  senators.  I 
like  a  master  standing  firm  on  legs  of  iron,  well  born, 
rich,  handsome,  eloquent,  loaded  with  advantages, 
drawing  all  men  by  fascination  into  tributaries  and 
supporters  of  his  power.  Sword  and  staff,  or  talents 
sword-like  or  staff-like,  carry  on  the  work  of  the 
world.  But  I  find  him  greater  when  he  can  abolish 
himself  and  all  heroes  by  letting  in  this  element  of 
reason,  irrespective  of  persons,  this  subtilizer  and 
irresistible  upward  force,  into  our  thoughts,  destroy 
ing  individualism ;  the  power  is  so  great  that  the  po 
tentate  is  nothing.  — 

"  The  genius  of  humanity  is  the  right  point  of  view 
of  history.  The  qualities  abide ;  the  men  who  exhibit 
them  have  now  more,  now  less,  and  pass  away  ;  the 
qualities  remain  on  another  brow.  —  All  that  respects 
the  individual  is  temporary  and  prospective,  like  the 
individual  himself,  who  is  ascending  out  of  his  limits 
into  a  catholic  existence." 

No  man  can  be  an  idol  for  one  who  looks  in 
this  way  at  all  men.  But  Plato  takes  the  first 
place  in  Emerson's  gallery  of  six  great  person 
ages  whose  portraits  he  has  sketched.  And  of 
him  he  says :  — 

"Among  secular  books  Plato  only  is  entitled  to 
Omar's  fanatical  compliment  to  the  Koran,  when  he 
said,  '  Burn  the  libraries ;  for  their  value  is  in  this 
book.'  Out  of  Plato  come  all  things  that  are  still 
written  and  debated  among  men  of  thought."  — 


PLATO.  199 

11  In  proportion  to  the  culture  of  men  they  become 
his  scholars."  —  "  How  many  great  men  Nature  is 
incessantly  sending  up  out  of  night  to  he  his  men  !  — 
His  contemporaries  tax  him  with  plagiarism.  —  But 
the  inventor  only  knows  how  to  borrow.  When  we 
are  praising  Plato,  it  seems  we  are  praising  quotations 
from  Solon  and  Sophron  and  Philolaus.  Be  it  so. 
Every  book  is  a  quotation ;  and  every  house  is  a  quo 
tation  out  of  all  forests  and  mines  and  stone  quarries  ; 
and  every  man  is  a  quotation  from  all  his  ancestors." 

The  reader  will,  I  hope,  remember  this  last 
general  statement  when  he  learns  from  what 
wide  fields  of  authorship  Emerson  filled  his 
storehouses. 

A  few  sentences  from  Emerson  will  show 
us  the  probable  source  of  some  of  the  deepest 
thought  of  Plato  and  his  disciples. 

The  conception  of  the  fundamental  Unity,  he 
says,  finds  its  highest  expression  in  the  religious 
writings  of  the  East,  especially  in  the  Indian 
Scriptures.  '"The  whole  world  is  but  a  man 
ifestation  of  Vishnu,  who  is  identical  with  all 
things,  and  is  to  be  regarded  by  the  wise  as  not 
differing  from  but  as  the  same  as  themselves.  I 
neither  am  going  nor  coming;  nor  is  my  dwell 
ing  in  any  one  place ;  nor  art  thou,  thou ;  nor  are 
others,  others ;  nor  am  I,  I.'  As  if  he  had  said, 
'  All  is  for  the  soul,  and  the  soul  is  Vishnu ;  and 
animals  and  stars  are  transient  paintings;  and 


200  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

light  is  whitewash  ;  and  durations  are  deceptive ; 
and  form  is  impi'isonment ;  and  heaven  itself  a 
decoy.' "  All  of  which  we  see  reproduced  in 
Emerson's  poem  "Brahma."  —  "The  country  of 
unity,  of  immovable  institutions,  the  seat  of  a 
philosophy  delighting  in  abstractions,  of  men 
faithful  in  doctrine  and  in  practice  to  the  idea 
of  a  deaf,  unimplorable,  immense  fate,  is  Asia ; 
and  it  realizes  this  faith  in  the  social  institution 
of  caste.  On  the  other  side,  the  genius  of  Europe 
is  active  and  creative :  it  resists  caste  by  culture ; 
its  philosophy  was  a  discipline ;  it  is  a  land  of 
arts,  inventions,  trade,  freedom."  — "  Plato  came 
to  join,  and  by  contact  to  enhance,  the  energy  of 
each." 

But  Emerson  says,  —  and  some  will  smile  at 
hearing  him  say  it  of  another,  —  "  The  acutest 
German,  the  lovingest  disciple,  could  never  tell 
what  Platonism  was ;  indeed,  admirable  texts  can 
be  quoted  on  both  sides  of  every  great  question 
from  him." 

The  transcendent  intellectual  and  moral  supe 
riorities  of  this  "  Euclid  of  holiness,"  as  Emerson 
calls  him,  with  his  "  soliform  eye  and  his  boni- 
form  soul,"  —  the  two  quaint  adjectives  being 
from  the  mint  of  Cud  worth,  —  are  fully  dilated 
upon  in  the  addition  to  the  original  article  called 
"Plato :  New  Readings." 


SWEDENBORG.  201 

Few  readers  will  be  satisfied  with  the  Essay 
entitled  "  Swedenborg  ;  or,  the  Mystic."  The 
believers  in  his  special  communion  as  a  revealer 
of  divine  truth  will  find  him  reduced  to  the  level 
of  other  seers.  The  believers  of  the  different 
creeds  of  Christianity  will  take  offence  at  the 
statement  that  "  Swedenborg  and  Behmen  both 
failed  by  attaching  themselves  to  the  Christian 
symbol,  instead  of  to  the  moral  sentiment,  which 
carries  innumerable  Christianities,  humanities,  di 
vinities  in  its  bosom."  The  men  of  science  will 
smile  at  the  exorbitant  claims  put  forward  in 
behalf  of  Swedenborg  as  a  scientific  discoverer. 
"  Philosophers "  will  not  be  pleased  to  be  re 
minded  that  Swedenborg  called  them  "cocka 
trices,"  "  asps,"  or  "  flying  serpents  ;  "  "  literary 
men "  will  not  agree  that  they  are  "  conjurers 
and  charlatans,"  and  will  not  listen  with  patience 
to  the  praises  of  a  man  who  so  called  them.  As 
for  the  poets,  they  can  take  their  choice  of 
Emerson's  poetical  or  prose  estimate  of  the  great 
Mystic,  but  they  cannot  very  well  accept  both. 
In  "  The  Test,"  the  Muse  says :  — 

"  I  hung  my  verses  in  the  wind, 
Time  and  tide  their  faults  may  find  ; 
All  were  winnowed  through  and  through, 
Five  lines  lasted  good  and  true  .  .  . 
Sunshine  cannot  bleach  the  snow, 
Nor  time  unmake  what  poets  know. 


202       RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

Have  you  eyes  to  find  the  five 
Which  five  hundred  did  survive  ?  " 

In  the  verses  which  follow  we  learn  that  the 
five  immortal  poets  referred  to  are  Homer,  Dante, 
Shakespeare,  Swedenborg,  and  Goethe. 

And  now,  in  the  Essay  we  have  just  been  look 
ing  at,  I  find  that  "  his  books  have  no  melody, 
no  emotion,  no  humor,  no  relief  to  the  dead  pro 
saic  level.  We  wander  forlorn  in  a  lack-lustre 
landscape.  No  bird  ever  sang  in  these  gardens 
of  the  dead.  The  entire  want  of  poetry  in  so 
transcendent  a  mind  betokens  the  disease,  and 
like  a  hoarse  voice  in  a  beautiful  person,  is 
a  kind  of  warning."  Yet  Emerson  says  of  him 
that  "  He  lived  to  purpose :  he  gave  a  verdict. 
He  elected  goodness  as  the  clue  to  which  the  soul 
must  cling  in  this  labyrinth  of  nature." 

Emerson  seems  to  have  admired  Swedenborg 
at  a  distance,  but  seen  nearer,  he  liked  Jacob 
Behmen  a  great  deal  better. 

"  Montaigne ;  or,  the  Skeptic,"  is  easier  read 
ing  than  the  last-mentioned  Essay.  Emerson  ac 
counts  for  the  personal  regard  which  he  has  for 
Montaigne  by  the  story  of  his  first  acquaintance 
with  him.  But  no  other  reason  was  needed 
than  that  Montaigne  was  just  what  Emerson  de 
scribes  him  as  being. 

"  There  have  been  men  with  deeper  insight ;  but, 


MONTAIGNE.  203 

one  would  say,  never  a  man  with  such  abundance  of 
thought :  he  is  never  dull,  never  insincere,  and  has  the 
genius  to  make  the  reader  care  for  all  that  he  cares 
for. 

"  The  sincerity  and  marrow  of  the  man  reaches  to 
his  sentences.  I  know  not  anywhere  the  book  that 
seems  less  written.  It  is  the  language  of  conversation 
transferred  to  a  book.  Cut  these  words  and  they 
would  bleed  ;  they  are  vascular  and  alive.  — 

"  Montaigne  talks  with  shrewdness,  knows  the  world 
and  books  and  himself,  and  uses  the  positive  degree ; 
never  shrieks,  or  protests,  or  prays  :  no  weakness,  no 
convulsion,  no  superlative :  does  not  wish  to  jump  out 
of  his  skin,  or  play  any  antics,  or  annihilate  space  or 
time,  but  is  stout  and  solid ;  tastes  every  moment  of 
the  day;  likes  pain  because  it  makes  him  feel  himself 
and  realize  things  ;  as  we  pinch  ourselves  to  know 
that  we  are  awake.  He  keeps  the  plain  ;  he  rarely 
mounts  or  sinks ;  likes  to  feel  solid  ground  and  the 
stones  underneath.  His  writing  has  no  enthusiasms, 
no  aspiration  ;  contented,  self-respecting,  and  keeping 
the  middle  of  the  road.  There  is  but  one  exception, 
—  in  his  love  for  Socrates.  In  speaking  of  him,  for 
once  his  cheek  flushes  and  his  style  rises  to  passion." 

The  writer  who  draws  this  portrait  must  have 
many  of  the  same  characteristics.  Much  as  Em 
erson  loved  his  dreams  and  his  dreamers,  he 
must  have  found  a  great  relief  in  getting  into 
"the  middle  of  the  road  "  with  Montaigne,  after 
wandering  in  difficult  by-paths  which  too  often 


204  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

led   him   round   to   the    point   from   which  he 
started. 

As  to  his  exposition  of  the  true  relations  of 
skepticism  to  affirmative  and  negative  belief,  the 
philosophical  reader  must  be  referred  to  the 
Essay  itself. 

In  writing  of  "  Shakespeare ;  or,  the  Poet," 
Emerson  naturally  gives  expression  to  his  lead 
ing  ideas  about  the  office  of  the  poet  and  of 
poetry. 

"  Great  men  are  more  distinguished  by  range 
and  extent  than  by  originality."  A  poet  has 
"  a  heart  in  unison  with  his  time  and  country." 
— "  There  is  nothing  whimsical  and  fantastic 
in  his  production,  but  sweet  and  sad  earnest, 
freighted  with  the  weightiest  convictions,  and 
pointed  with  the  most  determined  aim  which 
any  man  or  class  knows  of  in  his  times." 

When  Shakespeare  was  in  his  youth  the  drama 
was  the  popular  means  of  amusement.  It  was 
"  ballad,  epic,  newspaper,  caucus,  lecture,  Punch, 
and  library,  at  the  same  time.  The  best  proof 
of  its  vitality  is  the  crowd  of  writers  which  sud 
denly  broke  into  this  field."  Shakespeare  found 
a  great  mass  of  old  plays  existing  in  manuscript 
and  reproduced  from  time  to  time  on  the  stage. 
He  borrowed  in  all  directions :  "  A  great  poet 
who  appears  in  illiterate  times  absorbs  into  his 


SHAKESPEARE.  205 

sphere  all  the  light  which  is  anywhere  radiat 
ing."  Homer,  Chaucer,  Saadi,  felt  that  all  wit 
was  their  wit.  "  Chaucer  is  a  huge  borrower." 
Emerson  gives  a  list  of  authors  from  whom  he 
drew.  This  list  is  in  many  particulars  erroneous, 
as  I  have  learned  from  a  letter  of  Professor 
Lounsbury's  which  I  have  had  the  privilege  of 
reading,  but  this  is  a  detail  which  need  not  de 
lay  us. 

The  reason  why  Emerson  has  so  much  to  say 
on  this  subject  of  borrowing,  especially  when 
treating  of  Plato  and  of  Shakespeare,  is  obvious 
enough.  He  was  arguing  in  his  own  cause,  — 
not  defending  himself,  as  if  there  were  some 
charge  of  plagiarism  to  be  met,  but  making  the 
proud  claim  of  eminent  domain  in  behalf  of  the 
masters  who  knew  how  to  use  their  acquisitions. 

"  Shakespeare  is  the  only  biographer  of  Shake 
speare  ;  and  even  he  can  tell  nothing  except  to  the 
Shakespeare  in  us."  —  "  Shakespeare  is  as  much  out 
of  the  category  of  eminent  authors  as  he  is  out  of  the 
crowd.  A  good  reader  can  in  a  sort  nestle  into 
Plato's  brain  and  think  from  thence ;  but  not  into 
Shakespeare's.  We  are  still  out  of  doors." 

After  all  the  homage  which  Emerson  pays  to 
the  intellect  of  Shakespeare,  he  weighs  him  with 
the  rest  of  mankind,  and  finds  that  he  shares 
"  the  halfness  and  imperfection  of  humanity." 

"  He  converted  the  elements  which  waited  on  his 


206  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

command  into  entertainment.     He  was  master  of  the 
revels  to  mankind." 

And  so,  after  this  solemn  verdict  on  Shake 
speare,  after  looking  at  the  forlorn  conclusions  of 
our  old  and  modern  oracles,  priest  and  prophet, 
Israelite,  German,  and  Swede,  he  says :  "  It  must 
be  conceded  that  these  are  half  views  of  half 
men.  The  world  still  wants  its  poet-priest,  who 
shall  not  trifle  with  Shakespeare  the  player,  nor 
shall  grope  in  graves  with  Swedenborg  the 
mourner ;  but  who  shall  see,  speak,  and  act  with 
equal  inspiration." 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  Emerson  should 
have  much  that  is  new  to  say  about  "  Napoleon ; 
or,  the  Man  of  the  World." 

The  stepping-stones  of  this  Essay  are  easy  to 
find:  — 

"  The  instinct  of  brave,  active,  able  men,  through 
out  the  middle  class  everywhere,  has  pointed  out 
Napoleon  as  the  incarnate  democrat.  — 

"  Napoleon  is  thoroughly  modern,  and  at  the  high 
est  point  of  his  fortunes,  has  the  very  spirit  of  the 
newspapers."  As  Plato  borrowed,  as  Shakespeare  bor 
rowed,  as  Mirabeau  "  plagiarized  every  good  thought, 
every  good  word  that  was  spoken  in  France,"  so  Napo 
leon  is  not  merely  "  representative,  but  a  monopolizer 
and  usurper  of  other  minds." 

He  was  "  a  man  of  stone  and  iron," — equipped 


NAPOLEON.  207 

for  his  work  by  nature  as  Sallust  describes  Cati 
line  as  being.  "  He  had  a  directness  of  action 
never  before  combined  with  such  comprehension. 
Here  was  a  man  who  in  each  moment  and  emer 
gency  knew  what  to  do  next.  He  saw  only  the 
object ;  the  obstacle  must  give  way." 

"  When  a  natural  king  becomes  a  titular  king 
everybody  is  pleased  and  satisfied."  — 

"  I  call  Napoleon  the  agent  or  attorney  of  the 
middle  class  of  modern  society. — He  was  the 
agitator,  the  destroyer  of  prescription,  the  in 
ternal  improver,  the  liberal,  the  radical,  the 
inventor  of  means,  the  opener  of  doors  and  mar 
kets,  the  subverter  of  monopoly  and  abuse." 

But  he  was  without  generous  sentiments,  "  a 
boundless  liar,"  and  finishing  in  high  colors  the 
outline  of  his  moral  deformities,  Emerson  gives 
us  a  climax  in  two  sentences  which  render  fur 
ther  condemnation  superfluous :  — 

"  In  short,  when  you  have  penetrated  through  all 
the  circles  of  power  and  splendor,  you  were  not  deal 
ing  with  a  gentleman,  at  last,  but  with  an  impostor 
and  rogue ;  and  he  fully  de-serves  the  epithet  of 
Jupiter  Scapin,  or  a  sort  of  Scamp  Jupiter. 

"So  this  exorbitant  egotist  narrowed,  impoverished, 
and  absorbed  the  power  and  existence  of  those  who 
served  him ;  and  the  universal  cry  of  France  and  of 
Europe  in  1814  was,  Enough  of  him ;  '  Asses  de 
Bonaparte.' " 


208  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

It  was  to  this  feeling  that  the  French  poet 
Barbier,  whose  death  we  have  but  lately  seen 
announced,  gave  expression  in  the  terrible  satire 
in  which  he  pictured  France  as  a  fiery  courser 
.  bestridden  by  her  spurred  rider,  who  drove  her 
in  a  mad  career  over  heaps  of  rocks  and  ruins. 

But  after  all,  Carlyle's  "  carriere  ouverte  aux 
talens"  is  the  expression  for  Napoleon's  great 
message  to  mankind. 

"  Goethe  ;  or,  the  Writer,"  is  the  last  of  the 
Representative  Men  who  are  the  subjects  of  this 
book  of  Essays.  Emerson  says  he  had  read  the 
fifty-five  volumes  of  Goethe,  but  no  other  Ger 
man  writers,  at  least  in  the  original.  It  must 
have  been  in  fulfilment  of  some  pious  vow  that 
he  did  this.  After  all  that  Carlyle  had  written 
about  Goethe,  he  could  hardly  help  studying 
him.  But  this  Essay  looks  to  me  as  if  he  had 
found  the  reading  of  Goethe  hard  work.  It 
flows  rather  languidly,  toys  with  side  issues  as 
a  stream  loiters  round  a  nook  in  its  margin,  and 
finds  an  excuse  for  play  in  every  pebble.  Still, 
he  has  praise  enough  for  his  author.  "  He  has 
clothed  our  modern  existence  with  poetry."  — 
"  He  has  said  the  best  things  about  nature  that 
ever  were  said.  —  He  flung  into  literature  in  his 
Mephistopheles  the  first  organic  figure  that  has 
been  added  for  some  ages,  and  which  will  remain 


MEMOIRS  OF  MARGARET  FULLER  OSSOLL    209 

as  long  as  the  Prometheus.  —  He  is  the  type  of 
culture,  the  amateur  of  all  arts  and  sciences  and 
events ;  artistic,  but  not  artist ;  spiritual,  but  not 
spiritualist.  —  I  join  Napoleon  with  him,  as  be 
ing  both  representatives  of  the  impatience  and 
reaction  of  nature  against  the  morgue  of  conven 
tions,  —  two  stern  realists,  who,  with  their  schol 
ars,  have  severally  set  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the 
tree  of  cant  and  seeming,  for  this  time  and  for 
all  time." 

This  must  serve  as  an  ex  pede  guide  to  recon 
struct  the  Essay  which  finishes  the  volume.. 

In  1852  there  was  published  a  Memoir  of  Mar 
garet  Fuller  Ossoli,  in  which  Emerson,  James 
Freeman  Clarke,  and  William  Henry  Channmg 
each  took  a  part.  Emerson's  account  of  her 
conversation  and  extracts  from  her  letters  and 
diaries,  with  his  running  commentaries  and  his 
interpretation  of  her  mind  and  character,  are  a 
most  faithful  and  vivid  portraiture  of  a  woman 
who  is  likely  to  live  longer  by  what  is  written 
of  her  than  by  anything  she  ever  wrote  herself. 
14 


CHAPTER  VHL 

1853-1858.    ^t.  50-55. 


Lectures  in  various  Places.  —  Anti  -  Slavery  Addresses.  — 
Woman.  A  Lecture  read  before  the  Woman's  Rights  Con 
vention.  —  Samuel  Hoar.  Speech  at  Concord.  —  Publica 
tion  of  "  English  Traits."  —  The  "  Atlantic  Monthly."  — 
The  "  Saturday  Club." 

ATTER  Emerson's  return  from  Europe  he  de 
livered  lectures  to  different  audiences,  —  one  on 
Poetry,  afterwards  published  in  "Letters  and 
Social  Aims,"  a  course  of  lectures  in  Freeman 
Place  Chapel,  Boston,  some  of  which  have  been 
published,  one  on  the  Anglo-Saxon  Eace,  and 
many  others.  In  January,  1855,  he  gave  one 
of  the  lectures  in  a  course  of  Anti-Slavery  Ad 
dresses  delivered  in  Tremont  Temple,  Boston. 
In  the  same  year  he  delivered  an  address  before 
the  Anti-Slavery  party  of  New  York.  His  plan 
for  the  extirpation  of  slavery  was  to  buy  the 
slaves  from  the  planters,  not  conceding  their 
right  to  ownership,  but  because  "  it  is  the  only 
practical  course,  and  is  innocent."  It  would 
cost  two  thousand  millions,  he  says,  according 
to  the  present  estimate,  but  "  was  there  ever  any 


ANTI-SLAVERY  ADDRESSES.  211 

contribution  that  was  so  enthusiastically  paid  as 
this  would  be  ?  " 

His  optimism  flowers  out  in  all  its  innocent 
luxuriance  in  the  paragraph  from  which  this  is 
quoted.  Of  course  with  notions  like  these  he 
could  not  be  hand  in  hand  with  the  Abolition 
ists.  He  was  classed  with  the  Free  Soilers,  but 
he  seems  to  have  formed  a  party  by  himself  in 
his  project  for  buying  up  the  negroes.  He 
looked  at  the  matter  somewhat  otherwise  in 
1863,  when  the  settlement  was  taking  place  in  a 
different  currency,  —  in  steel  and  not  in  gold :  — 

"Pay  ransom  to  the  owner, 

And  fill  the  bag  to  the  brim. 
Who  is  the  owner  ?     The  slave  is  owner, 
And  ever  was.     Pay  him." 

His  sympathies  were  all  and  always  with  free 
dom.  He  spoke  with  indignation  of  the  out 
rage  on  Sumner;  he  took  part  in  the  meeting 
at  Concord  expressive  of  sympathy  with  John 
Brown.  But  he  was  never  in  the  front  rank  of 
the  aggressive  Anti-Slavery  men.  In  his  singu 
lar  "  Ode  inscribed  to  W.  H.  Channing  "  there 
is  a  hint  of  a  possible  solution  of  the  slavery 
problem  which  implies  a  doubt  as  to  the  per 
manence  of  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble. 

"  The  over-god 
Who  marries  Right  to  Might, 


212  RALPH    WALDO   EMERSON. 

Who  peoples,  unpeoples,  — 
He  who  exterminates 
Races  by  stronger  races, 
Black  by  white  faces,  — 
Knows  to  bring  honey 
Out  of  the  lion." 

Some  doubts  of  this  kind  helped  Emerson  to 
justify  himself  when    he   refused   to   leave   his 
"  honeyed  thought "  for  the  busy  world  where 
"  Things  are  of  the  snake." 

The  time  came  when  he  could  no  longer  sit 
quietly  in  his  study,  and,  to  borrow  Mr.  Cooke's 
words,  "  As  the  agitation  proceeded,  and  brave 
men  took  part  in  it,  and  it  rose  to  a  spirit  of 
moral  grandeur,  he  gave  a  heartier  assent  to  the 
outward  methods  adopted." 

No  woman  could  doiibt  the  reverence  of  Em- 
ersoii  for  womanhood.  In  a  lecture  read  to  the 
"  Woman's  Rights  Convention "  in  1855,  he 
takes  bold,  and  what  would  then  have  been  con 
sidered  somewhat  advanced,  ground  in  the  con 
troversy  then  and  since  dividing  the  community. 
This  is  the  way  in  which  he  expresses  himself : 

"  I  do  not  think  it  yet  appears  that  women  wish 
this  equal  share  in  public  affairs.  But  it  is  they  and 
not  we  that  are  to  determine  it.  Let  the  laws  be 
purged  of  every  barbarous  remainder,  every  barba 
rous  impediment  to  women.  Let  the  public  dona- 


SAMUEL  HOAR.  213 

tions  for  education  be  equally  shared  by  them,  let 
them  enter  a  school  as  freely  as  a  church,  let  them 
have  and  hold  and  give  their  property  as  men  do 
theirs  ;  —  and  in  a  few  years  it  will  easily  appear 
whether  they  wish  a  voice  in  making  the  laws  that 
are  to  govern  them.  If  you  do  refuse  them  a  vote, 
you  will  also  refuse  to  tax  them,  — according  to  our 
Teutonic  principle,  No  representation,  no  tax.  —  The 
new  movement  is  only  a  tide  shared  by  the  spirits  of 
man  and  woman  ;  and  you  may  proceed  in  the  faith 
that  whatever  the  woman's  heart  is  prompted  to  de 
sire,  the  man's  mind  is  simultaneously  prompted  to 
accomplish." 

Emerson  was  fortunate  enough  to  have  had 
for  many  years  as  a  neighbor,  that  true  New 
England  Roman,  Samuel  Hoar.  He  spoke  of 
him  in  Concord  before  his  fellow-citizens,  shortly 
after  his  death,  in  1856.  He  afterwards  pre 
pared  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Hoar  for  "  Putnam's  Mag 
azine,"  from  which  I  take  one  prose  sentence  and 
the  verse  with  which  the  sketch  concluded :  — 

"  He  was  a  model  of  thoie  formal  but  reverend 
manners  which  make  what  is  called  a  gentleman  of 
the  old  school,  so  called  under  an  impression  that  the 
style  is  passing  away,  but  which,  I  suppose,  is  an  op 
tical  illusion,  as  there  are  always  a  few  more  of  the 
class  remaining,  and  always  a  few  young  men  to 
whom  these  manners  are  native." 

The  single  verse  I  quote  is  compendious  enough 


214  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

and  descriptive  enough  for  an  Elizabethan  mon 
umental  inscription. 

"  With  beams  December  planets  dart 
His  cold  eye  truth  and  conduct  scanned  ; 
July  was  in  his  sunny  heart, 
October  in  his  liberal  hand." 

Emerson's  "  English  Traits,"  forming  one  vol 
ume  of  his  works,  was  published  in  1856.  It  is 
a  thoroughly  fresh  and  original  book.  It  is  not 
a  tourist's  guide,  not  a  detailed  description  of 
sights  which  tired  the  traveller  in  staring  at 
them,  and  tire  the  reader  who  attacks  the  weary 
ing  pages  in  which  they  are  recorded.  Shrewd 
observation  there  is  indeed,  but  its  strength  is  in 
broad  generalization  and  epigrammatic  charac 
terizations.  They  are  not  to  be  received  as  in  any 
sense  final ;  they  are  not  like  the  verifiable  facts 
of  science ;  they  are  more  or  less  sagacious,  more 
or  less  well  founded  opinions  formed  by  a  fair- 
minded,  sharp-witted,  kind-hearted,  open-souled 
philosopher,  whose  presence  made  every  one 
well-disposed  towards  him,  and  consequently  left 
him  well-disposed  to  all  the  world. 

A  glance  at  the  table  of  contents  will  give 
an  idea  of  the  objects  which  Emerson  proposed 
to  himself  in  his  tour,  and  which  take  up  the 
principal  portion  of  his  record.  Only  one  place 
is  given  as  the  heading  of  a  chapter,  —  Stone- 
henge.  The  other  eighteen  chapters  have  gen- 


"ENGLISH  TRAITS."  215 

eral  titles,  Land,  Race,  Ability,  Manners,  and 
others  of  similar  character. 

He  uses  plain  English  in  introducing  us  to  the 
Pilgrim  fathers  of  the  British  Aristocracy  :  — 

"  Twenty  thousand  thieves  landed  at  Hastings. 
These  founders  of  the  House  of  Lords  were  greedy 
and  ferocious  dragoons,  sons  of  greedy  and  ferocious 
pirates.  They  were  all  alike,  they  took  everything 
they  could  carry  ;  they  burned,  harried,  violated, 
tortured,  and  killed,  until  everything  English  was 
brought  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  Such,  however,  is  the 
illusion  of  antiquity  and  wealth,  that  decent  and  dig 
nified  men  now  existing  boast  their  descent  from 
these  filthy  thieves,  who  showed  a  far  juster  convic 
tion  of  their  own  merits  by  assuming  for  their  types 
the  swine,  goat,  jackal,  leopard,  wolf,  and  snake, 
which  they  severally  resembled." 

The  race  preserves  some  of  its  better  charac 
teristics. 

"  They  have  a  vigorous  health  and  last  well  into 
middle  and  old  age.  The  old  men  are  as  red  as 
roses,  and  still  handsome.  A  clear  skin,  a  peach- 
bloom  complexion,  and  good  teeth  are  found  all  over 
the  island." 

English  "  Manners  "  are  characterized,  accord 
ing  to  Emerson,  by  pluck,  vigor,  independence. 
"  Every  one  of  these  islanders  is  an  island  him 
self,  safe,  tranquil,  incommunicable."  They  are 
positive,  methodical,  cleanly,  and  formal,  loving 


216  RALPH    WALDO   EMERSON. 

routine  and  conventional  ways  ;  loving  truth  and 
religion,  to  be  sure,  but  inexorable  on  points  of 
form. 

"  They  keep  their  old  customs,  costumes,  and  pomps, 
their  wig  and  mace,  sceptre  and  crown.  A  severe 
decorum  rules  the  court  and  the  cottage.  Pretension 
and  vaporing  are  once  for  all  distasteful.  They  hate 
nonsense,  sentimentalism,  and  high-flown  expressions ; 
they  use  a  studied  plainness." 

"  In  an  aristocratical  country  like  England,  not 
the  Trial  by  Jury,  but  the  dinner  is  the  capital  in 
stitution." 

"  They  confide  in  each  other,  —  English  believes 
in  English."  —  "  They  require  the  same  adherence, 
thorough  conviction,  and  reality  in  public  men." 

"  As  compared  with  the  American,  I  think  them 
cheerful  and  contented.  Young  people  in  this  coun 
try  are  much  more  prone  to  melancholy." 

Emerson's  observation  is  in  accordance  with 
that  of  Cotton  Mather  nearly  two  hundred  years 
ago. 

"  New  England,  a  country  where  splenetic  Mala 
dies  are  prevailing  and  pernicious,  perhaps  above  any 
other,  hath  afforded  numberless  instances,  of  even 
pious  people,  who  have  contracted  those  Melancholy 
Indispositions,  which  have  unhinged  them  from  all 
service  or  comfort ;  yea,  not  a  few  persons  have  been 
hurried  thereby  to  lay  Violent  Hands  upon  them 
selves  at  the  last.  These  are  among  the  unsearch* 
able  Judgments  of  God." 


'•ENGLISH  TRAITS."  217 

If  there  is  a  little  exaggeration  about  the  fol 
lowing  portrait  of  the  Englishman,  it  has  truth 
enough  to  excuse  its  high  coloring,  and  the  like 
ness  will  be  smilingly  recognized  by  every  stout 
Briton. 

"  They  drink  brandy  like  water,  cannot  expend 
their  quantities  of  waste  strength  on  riding,  hunting, 
swimming,  and  fencing,  and  run  into  absurd  follies 
with  the  gravity  of  the  Eumenides.  They  stoutly 
carry  into  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  earth  their 
turbulent  sense  ;  leaving  no  lie  uncontradicted ;  no 
pretension  unexamined.  They  chew  hasheesh  ;  cut 
themselves  with  poisoned  creases,  swing  their  ham 
mock  in  the  boughs  of  the  Bohon  Upas,  taste  every 
poison,  buy  every  secret ;  at  Naples,  they  put  St. 
Januarius's  blood  in  an  alembic  ;  they  saw  a  hole  into 
the  head  of  the  '  winking  virgin '  to  know  why  she 
winks ;  measure  with  an  English  foot-rule  every  cell 
of  the  inquisition,  every  Turkish  Caaba,  every  Holy  of 
Holies  ;  translate  and  send  to  Bentley  the  arcanum, 
bribed  and  bullied  away  from  shuddering  Bramins ; 
and  measure  their  own  strength  by  the  terror  they 


This  last  audacious  picture  might  be  hung  up 
as  a  prose  pendant  to  Marvell's  poetical  descrip 
tion  of  Holland  and  the  Dutch. 

"  A  saving  stupidity  marks  and  protects  their  per 
ception  as  the  curtain  of  the  eagle's  eye.  Our  swifter 
Americans,  when  they  first  deal  with  English,  pro- 


218  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

nounce  them  stupid ;  but,  later,  do  them  justice  as 
people  who  wear  well,  or  hide  their  strength.  —  High 
and  low,  they  are  of  an  unctuous  texture.  —  Their 
daily  feasts  argue  a  savage  vigor  of  body.  —  Half 
their  strength  they  put  not  forth.  The  stability  of 
England  is  the  security  of  the  modern  world." 

Perhaps  nothing  in  any  of  his  vigorous  para 
graphs  is  more  striking  than  the  suggestion  that 
"  if  hereafter  the  war  of  races  often  predicted, 
and  making  itself  a  war  of  opinions  also  (a 
question  of  despotism  and  liberty  coming  from 
Eastern  Europe),  should  menace  the  English 
civilization,  these  sea-kings  may  take  once  again 
to  their  floating  castles  and  find  a  new  home  and 
a  second  millennium  of  power  in  their  colonies." 

In  reading  some  of  Emerson's  pages  it  seems 
as  if  another  Arcadia,  or  the  new  Atlantis,  had 
emerged  as  the  fortunate  island  of  Great  Britain, 
or  that  he  had  reached  a  heaven  on  earth  where 
neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where 
thieves  do  not  break  through  nor  steal,  —  or  if 
they  do,  never  think  of  denying  that  they  have 
done  it.  But  this  was  a  generation  ago,  when 
the  noun  "  shoddy,"  and  the  verb  "  to  scamp," 
had  not  grown  such  familiar  terms  to  English 
ears  as  they  are  to-day.  Emerson  saw  the 
country  on  its  best  side.  Each  traveller  makes 
his  own  England.  A  Quaker  sees  chiefly  broad 
brims,  and  the  island  looks  to  him  like  a  field  of 
mushrooms. 


"ENGLISH  TRAITS."  219 

The  transplanted  Church  of  England  is  rich 
and  prosperous  and  fashionable  enough  not  to 
be  disturbed  by  Emerson's  flashes  of  light  that 
have  not  come  through  its  stained  windows. 

"  The  religion  of  England  is  part  of  good-breed 
ing.  When  you  see  on  the  continent  the  well-dressed 
Englishman  come  into  his  ambassador's  chapel,  and 
put  his  face  for  silent  prayer  into  his  smooth-brushed 
hat,  one  cannot  help  feeling  how  much  national  pride 
prays  with  him,  and  the  religion  of  a  gentleman. 

"  The  church  at  this  moment  is  much  to  be  pitied. 
She  has  nothing  left  but  possession.  If  a  bishop 
meets  an  intelligent  gentleman,  and  reads  fatal  inter 
rogation  in  his  eyes,  he  has  no  resource  but  to  take 
wine  with  him." 

Sydney  Smith  had  a  great  reverence  for  a 
bishop,  —  so  great  that  he  told  a  young  lady  that 
he  used  to  roll  a  crumb  of  bread  in  his  hand, 
from  nervousness,  when  he  sat  next  one  at  a 
dinner-table,  —  and  if  next  an  archbishop,  used 
to  roll  crumbs  with  both  hands, — but  Sydney 
Smith  would  have  enjoyed  the  tingling  felicity 
of  this  last  stinging  touch  of  wit,  left  as  lightly 
and  gracefully  as  a  banderillero  leaves  his  little 
gayly  ribboned  dart  in  the  shoulders  of  the  bull 
with  whose  unwieldy  bulk  he  is  playing. 

Emerson  handles  the  formalism  and  the  half 
belief  of  the  Established  Church  very  freely, 
but  he  closes  his  chapter  on  Religion  with  soft- 
spoken  words. 


220  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

"•  Yet  if  religion  be  the  doing  of  all  good,  and  for 
its  sake  the  suffering  of  all  evil,  souffrir  de  tout  le 
monde,  et  ne  faire  souffrir  personne,  that  divine  se 
cret  has  existed  in  England  from  the  days  of  Alfred 
to  those  of  Romilly,  of  Clarkson,  and  of  Florence 
Nightingale,  and  in  thousands  who  have  no  fame." 

"  English  Traits"  closes  with  Emerson's  speech 
at  Manchester,  at  the  annual  banquet  of  the 
"  Free  Trade  Athenaeum."  This  was  merely  an 
occasional  after  -  dinner  reply  to  a  toast  which 
called  him  up,  but  it  had  sentences  in  it  which, 
if  we  can  imagine  Milton  to  have  been  called  up 
in  the  same  way,  he  might  well  have  spoken  and 
done  himself  credit  in  their  utterance. 

The  total  impression  left  by  the  book  is  that 
Emerson  was  fascinated  by  the  charm  of  English 
society,  filled  with  admiration  of  the  people, 
tempted  to  contrast  his  New  Englanders  in 
many  respects  unfavorably  with  Old  England 
ers,  mainly  in  their  material  and  vital  stamina ; 
but  with  all  this  not  blinded  for  a  moment  to  the 
thoroughly  insular  limitations  of  the  phlegmatic 
islander.  He  alternates  between  a  turn  of  gen 
uine  admiration  and  a  smile  as  at  a  people  that 
has  not  outgrown  its  playthings.  This  is  in 
truth  the  natural  and  genuine  feeling  of  a  self- 
governing  citizen  of  a  commonwealth  where 
thrones  and  wigs  and  mitres  seem  like  so  many 


"THE  ATLANTIC  MONTHLY."  221 

pieces  of  stage  property.  An  American  need 
not  be  a  philosopher  to  hold  these  things  cheap. 
He  cannot  help  it.  Madame  Tussaud's  exhibi 
tion,  the  Lord-Mayor's  gilt  coach,  and  a  corona 
tion,  if  one  happens  to  be  in  season,  are  all 
sights  to  be  seen  by  an  American  traveller,  but 
the  reverence  which  is  born  with  the  British 
subject  went  up  with  the  smoke  of  the  gun  that 
fired  the  long  echoing  shot  at  the  little  bridge 
over  the  sleepy  river  which  'works  its  way  along 
through  the  wide-awake  town  of  Concord. 

In  November,  1857,  a  new  magazine  was  estab 
lished  in  Boston,  bearing  the  name  of  "The 
Atlantic  Monthly."  Professor  James  Russell 
Lowell  was  editor-in-chief,  and  Messrs.  Phillips 
and  Sampson,  who  were  the  originators  of  the 
enterprise,  were  the  publishers.  Many  of  the  old 
contributors  to  "The  Dial"  wrote  for  the  new 
magazine,  among  them  Emerson.  He  contrib 
uted  twenty-eight  articles  in  all,  more  than  half 
of  them  verse,  to  different  numbers,  from  the  first 
to  the  thirty-seventh  volume.  Among  them  are 
several  of  his  best  known  poems,  such  as  "  The 
Romany  Girl,"  "Days,"  "Brahma,"  "Waldein- 
samkeit,"  "The  Titmouse,"  "Boston  Hymn," 
"  Saadi,"  and  "  Terminus." 

At  about  the  same  time  there  grew  up  in  Bos 
ton  a  literary  association,  which  became  at  last 
well  known  as  the  "  Saturday  Club,"  the  mem- 


222  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

bers  dining  together  on  the  last  Saturday  of 
every  month. 

The  Magazine  and  the  Club  have  existed  and 
flourished  to  the  present  day.  They  have  often 
been  erroneously  thought  to  have  some  organic 
connection,  and  the  "  Atlantic  Club  "  has  been 
spoken  of  as  if  there  was  or  had  been  such  an 
institution,  but  it  never  existed. 

Emerson  was  a  member  of  the  Saturday  Club 
from  the  first ;  in  reality  before  it  existed  as  an 
empirical  fact,  and  when  it  was  only  a  Platonic 
idea.  The  Club  seems  to  have  shaped  itself 
around  him  as  a  nucleus  of  crystallization,  two  or 
three  friends  of  his  having  first  formed  the  habit 
of  meeting  him  at  dinner  at  "Parker's,"  the 
"Will's  Coffee-House"  of  Boston.  This  little 
group  gathered  others  to  itself  and  grew  into 
a  club  as  Rome  grew  into  a  city,  almost  with 
out  knowing  how.  During  its  first  decade  the 
Saturday  Club  brought  together,  as  members 
or  as  visitors,  many  distinguished  persons.  At 
one  end  of  the  table  sat  Longfellow,  florid, 
quiet,  benignant,  soft- voiced,  a  most  agreeable 
rather  than  a  brilliant  talker,  but  a  man  upon 
whom  it  was  always  pleasant  to  look,  —  whose 
silence  was  better  than  many  another  man's  con 
versation.  At  the  other  end  of  the  table  sat 
Agassiz,  robust,  sanguine,  animated,  full  of  talk, 
boy-like  in  his  laughter.  The  stranger  who 


THE  "SATURDAY  CLUB."  223 

should  have  asked  who  were  the  men  ranged 
along  the  sides  of  the  table  would  have  heard  in, 
answer  the  names  of  Hawthorne,  Motley,  Dana, 
Lowell,  Whipple,  Peirce,  the  distinguished  math 
ematician,  Judge  Hoar,  eminent  at  the  bar  and 
in  the  cabinet,  Dwight,  the  leading  musical  critic 
of  Boston  for  a  whole  generation,  Sumner,  the 
academic  champion  of  freedom,  Andrew,  "  the 
great  War  Governor"  of  Massachusetts,  Dr. 
Howe,  the  philanthropist,  William  Hunt,  the 
painter,  with  others  not  unworthy  of  such  com 
pany.  And  with  these,  generally  near  the  Long 
fellow  end  of  the  table,  sat  Emerson,  talking  in 
low  tones  and  carefully  measured  utterances  to 
his  neighbor,  or  listening,  and  recording  on  his 
mental  phonograph  any  stray  word  worth  re 
membering.  Emerson  was  a  very  regular  at 
tendant  at  the  meetings  of  the  Saturday  Club, 
and  continued  to  dine  at  its  table,  until  within 
a  year  or  two  of  his  death. 

Unfortunately  the  Club  had  no  Boswell,  and 
its  golden  hours  passed  unrecorded. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1858-1863.    ^Er.  55-60. 

Essay  on  Persian  Poetry.  —  Speech  at  the  Burns  Centennial 
Festival.  —  Letter  from  Emerson  to  a  Lady.  —  Tributes  to 
Theodore  Parker  and  to  Thoreau.  —  Address  on  the  Eman 
cipation  Proclamation.  —  Publication  of  "  The  Conduct  of 
Life."  Contents  :  Fate  ;  Power ;  Wealth  ;  Culture ;  Be 
havior  ;  Worship ;  Considerations  by  the  Way ;  Beauty ;  Il 
lusions. 

THE  Essay  on  Persian  Poetry,  published  in  the 
"  Atlantic  Monthly  "  in  1858,  should  be  studied 
by  all  readers  who  are  curious  in  tracing  the  in 
fluence  of  Oriental  poetry  on  Emerson's  verse. 
In  many  of  the  shorter  poems  and  fragments 
published  since  "  May-Day,"  as  well  as  in  the 
"  Quatrains  "  and  others  of  the  later  poems  in 
that  volume,  it  is  sometimes  hard  to  tell  what  is 
from  the  Persian  from  what  is  original. 

On  the  25th  of  January,  1859,  Emerson  at 
tended  the  Burns  Festival,  held  at  the  Parker 
House  in  Boston,  on  the  Centennial  Anniversary 
of  the  poet's  birth.  He  spoke  after  the  dinner 
to  the  great  audience  with  such  beauty  and 
eloquence  that  all  who  listened  to  him  have  re 
membered  it  as  one  of  the  most  delightful  ad 
dresses  they  ever  heard.  Among  his  hearers  was 


LETTER   TO  A  LADY.  225 

Mr.  Lowell,  who  says  of  it  that  "  every  word 
seemed  to  have  just  dropped  down  to  him  from 
the  clouds."  Judge  Hoar,  who  was  another  of 
his  hearers,  says,  that  though  he  has  heard  many 
of  the  chief  orators  of  his  time,  he  never  wit 
nessed  such  an  effect  of  speech  upon  men.  I 
was  myself  present  on  that  occasion,  and  under 
went  the  same  fascination  that  these  gentlemen 
and  the  varied  audience  before  the  speaker  ex 
perienced.  His  words  had  a  passion  in  them 
not  usual  in  the  calm,  pure  flow  most  natural 
to  his  uttered  thoughts ;  white-hot  iron  we  are 
familiar  with,  but  white-hot  silver  is  what  we  do 
not  often  look  upon,  and  his  inspiring  address 
glowed  like  silver  fresh  from  the  cupel. 

I  am  allowed  the  privilege  of  printing  the 
following  letter  addressed  to  a  lady  of  high 
intellectual  gifts,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest, 
most  devoted,  and  most  faithful  of  his  intimate 

friends :  — 

CONCORD,  May  13,  1859. 

Please,  dear  C.,  not  to  embark  for  home  until 
I  have  despatched  these  lines,  which  I  will  hasten  to 
fkiish.  Louis  Napoleon  will  not  bayonet  you  the 
while,  —  keep  him  at  the  door.  So  long  I  have  prom 
ised  to  write  !  so  long  I  have  thanked  your  long 
suffering  !  I  have  let  pass  the  unreturning  opportu 
nity  your  visit  to  Germany  gave  to  acquaint  you  with 
Gisela  von  Arnim  (Bettina's  daughter),  and  Joachim 
15 


226  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

the  violinist,  and  Hermann  Grimm  the  scholar,  her 
friends.  Neither  has  E.,  —  wandering  in  Europe 
with  hope  of  meeting  you,  —  yet  met.  This  con 
tumacy  of  mine  I  shall  regret  as  long  as  I  live.  How 
palsy  creeps  over  us,  with  gossamer  first,  and  ropes 
afterwards !  and  the  witch  has  the  prisoner  when 
once  she  has  put  her  eye  on  him,  as  securely  as  after 
the  holts  are  drawn.  —  Yet  I  and  all  my  little  com 
pany  watch  every  token  from  you,  and  coax  Mrs.  H. 
to  read  us  letters.  I  learned  with  satisfaction  that 
you  did  not  like  Germany.  Where  then  did  Goethe 
find  his  lovers  ?  Do  all  the  women  have  bad  noses 
and  bad  mouths  ?  And  will  you  stop  in  England,  and 
bring  home  the  author  of  "  Counterparts  "  with  you? 
Or  did write  the  novels  and  send  them  to  Lon 
don,  as  I  fancied  when  I  read  them?  How  strange 
that  you  and  I  alone  to  this  day  should  have  his 
secret !  I  think  our  people  will  never  allow  genius, 

without  it  is  alloyed  by  talent.     But is  paralyzed 

by  his  whims,  that  I  have  ceased  to  hope  from  him. 
I  could  wish  your  experience  of  your  friends  were 
more  animating  than  mine,  and  that  there  were  any 
horoscope  you  could  not  cast  from  the  first  day.  The 
faults  of  youth  are  never  shed,  no,  nor  the  merits, 
and  creeping  time  convinces  ever  the  more  of  our  im 
potence,  and  of  the  irresistibility  of  our  bias.  Still 
this  is  only  science,  and  must  remain  science.  Our 
praxis  is  never  altered  for  that.  We  must  forever 
hold  our  companions  responsible,  or  they  are  not 
companions  but  stall-fed. 

I  think,  as  we  grow  older,  we  decrease  as  indi- 


LETTER  TO  A  LADY.  227 

viduals,  and  as  if  in  an  immense  audience  who  hear 
stirring  music,  none  essays  to  offer  a  new  stave,  but 
we  only  join  emphatically  in  the  chorus.  We  volun 
teer  no  opinion,  we  despair  of  guiding  people,  but  are 
confirmed  in  our  perception  that  Nature  is  all  right, 
and  that  we  have  a  good  understanding  with  it.  We 
must  shine  to  a  few  brothers,  as  palms  or  pines  or 
roses  among  common  weeds,  not  from  greater  absolute 
value,  but  from  a  more  convenient  nature.  But  't  is 
almost  chemistry  at  last,  though  a  meta-chemistry. 
I  remember  you  were  such  an  impatient  blasphemer, 
however  musically,  against  the  adamantine  identities, 
in  your  youth,  that  you  should  take  your  turn  of  resig 
nation  now,  and  be  a  preacher  of  peace.  But  there 
is  a  little  raising  of  the  eyebrow,  now  and  then,  in 
the  most  passive  acceptance,  —  if  of  an  intellectual 
turn.  Here  comes  out  around  me  at  this  moment  the 
new  June,  —  the  leaves  say  June,  though  the  calendar 
says  May,  —  and  we  must  needs  hail  our  young  rela 
tives  again,  though  with  something  of  the  gravity  of 
adult  sons  and  daughters  receiving  a  late-born  brother 
or  sister.  Nature  herself  seems  a  little  ashamed  of  a 
law  so  monstrous,  billions  of  summers,  and  now  the 
old  game  again  without  a  new  bract  or  sepal.  But 
you  will  think  me  incorrigible  with  my  generalities, 
and  you  so  near,  and  will  be  here  again  this  sum 
mer  ;  perhaps  with  A.  W.  and  the  other  travellers. 
My  children  scan  curiously  your  E.'s  drawings,  as 
they  have  seen  them. 

The  happiest  winds  fill  the  sails  of  you  and  yours  ! 

R.  W.  EMERSON. 


228  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON". 

In  the  year  1860,  Theodore  Parker  died,  and 
Emerson  spoke  of  his  life  and  labors  at  the 
meeting  held  at  the  Music  Hall  to  do  honor  to 
his  memory.  Emerson  delivered  discourses  on 
Sundays  and  week-days  in  the  Music  Hall  to 
Mr.  Parker's  society  after  his  death.  In  1862, 
he  lost  his  friend  Thoreau,  at  whose  funeral 
he  delivered  an  address  which  was  published  in 
the  "Atlantic  Monthly"  for  August  of  the  same 
year.  Thoreau  had  many  rare  and  admirable 
qualities,  and  Thoreau  pictured  by  Emerson  is  a 
more  living  personage  than  White  of  Selborne 
would  have  been  on  the  canvas  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds. 

The  Address  on  the  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion  was  delivered  in  Boston  in  September,  1862. 
The  feeling  that  inspired  it  may  be  judged  by 
the  following  extract :  — 

"Happy  are  the   young,  who  find  the  pestilence 
cleansed  out  of  the  earth,  leaving  open  to  them  an 
honest  career.     Happy  the  old,  who  see  Nature  puri 
fied  before  they  depart.     Do  not  let  the  dying  die ; 
hold  them  back  to  this  world,  until  you  have  charged 
their  ear  and  heart  with  this  message  to  other  spiritual 
societies,  announcing  the  melioration  of  our  planet :  — 
" '  Incertainties  now  crown  themselves  assured, 
And  Peace  proclaims  olives  of  endless  age.' " 

The  "Conduct  of  Life"  was  published  in 
1860.  The  chapter  on  "  Fate  "  might  leave  the 


"CONDUCT  OF  LIFE."  229 

reader  with  a  feeling  that  what  he  is  to  do,  as 
well  as  what  he  is  to  be  and  to  suffer,  is  so 
largely  predetermined  for  him,  that  his  will, 
though  formally  asserted,  has  but  a  questionable 
fraction  in  adjusting  him  to  his  conditions  as  a 
portion  of  the  universe.  But  let  him  hold  fast 
to  this  reassuring  statement :  — 

"  If  we  must  accept  Fate,  we  are  not  less  compelled 
to  affirm  liberty,  the  significance  of  the  individual,  the 
grandeur  of  duty,  the  power  of  character.  —  "We  are 
sure,  that,  though  we  know  not  how,  necessity  does 
comport  with  liberty,  the  individual  with  the  world, 
my  polarity  with  the  spirit  of  the  times." 

But  the  value  of  the  Essay  is  not  so  much  in 
any  light  it  throws  on  the  mystery  of  volition,  as 
on  the  striking  and  brilliant  way  in  which  the 
limitations  of  the  individual  and  the  inexplicable 
rule  of  law  are  illustrated. 

"  Nature  is  no  sentimentalist,  —  does  not  cosset  or 
pamper  us.  We  must  see  that  the  world  is  rough 
and  surly,  and  will  not  mind  drowning  a  man  or  a 
woman  ;  but  swallows  your  ship  like  a  grain  of  dust. 
—  The  way  of  Providence  is  a  little  rude.  The  habit 
of  snake  and  spider,  the  snap  of  the  tiger  and  other 
leapers  and  bloody  jumpers,  the  crackle  of  the  bones 
of  his  prey  in  the  coil  of  the  anaconda,  —  these  are  in 
the  system,  and  our  habits  are  like  theirs.  You  have 
just  dined,  and  however  scrupulously  the  slaughter 
house  is  concealed  in  the  graceful  distance  of  miles, 


230  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

there  is  complicity,  —  expensive  races,  —  race  living 
at  the  expense  of  race.  —  Let  us  not  deny  it  up  and 
down.  Providence  has  a  wild,  rough,  incalculable 
road  to  its  end,  and  it  is  of  no  use  to  try  to  whitewash 
its  huge,  mixed  instrumentalities,  or  to  dress  up  that 
terrific  benefactor  in  a  clean  shirt  and  white  neckcloth 
of  a  student  in  divinity." 

Emerson  cautions  his  reader  against  the  dan 
ger  of  the  doctrines  which  he  believed  in  so 
fully:- 

"  They  who  talk  much  of  destiny,  their  birth-star, 
etc.,  are  in  a  lower  dangerous  plane,  and  invite  the 
evils  they  fear." 

But  certainly  no  physiologist,  no  cattle-breeder, 
no  Calvinistic  predestinarian  could  put  his  view 
more  vigorously  than  Emerson,  who  dearly  loves 
a  picturesque  statement,  has  given  it  in  these 
words,  which  have  a  dash  of  science,  a  flash  of 
imagination,  and  a  hint  of  the  delicate  wit  that 
is  one  of  his  characteristics  :  — 

"  People  are  born  with  the  moral  or  with  the 
material  bias  ;  —  uterine  brothers  with  this  diverging 
destination :  and  I  suppose,  with  high  magnifiers, 
Mr.  Fraunhofer  or  Dr.  Carpenter  might  come  to  dis 
tinguish  in  the  embryo  at  the  fourth  day,  this  is  a 
whig  and  that  a  free-soiler." 

Let  us  see  what  Emerson  has  to  say  of 
"  Power :  "  — 

"  All  successful  men  have  agreed  in  one  thing  — 


"POWER."  •  231 

they  were  causationists.  They  believed  that  things 
went  not  by  luck,  but  by  law ;  that  there  was  not  a 
weak  or  a  cracked  link  in  the  chain  that  joins  the 
first  and  the  last  of  things. 

"  The  key  to  the  age  may  be  this,  or  that,  or  the 
other,  as  the  young  orators  describe  ;  —  the  key  to  all 
ages  is,  —  Imbecility  ;  imbecih'ty  in  the  vast  major 
ity  of  men  at  all  times,  and,  even  in  heroes,  in  all 
but  certain  eminent  moments ;  victims  of  gravity, 
custom,  and  fear.  This  gives  force  to  the  strong,  — 
that  the  multitude  have  no  habit  of  self-reliance  or 
original  action.  — 

"We  say  that  success  is  constitutional;  depends  on 
a  plus  condition  of  mind  and  body,  on  power  of  work, 
on  courage  ;  that  is  of  main  efficacy  in  carrying  on 
the  world,  and  though  rarely  found  in  the  right  state 
for  an  article  of  commerce,  but  oftener  in  the  super 
natural  or  excess,  which  makes  it  dangerous  and  de 
structive,  yet  it  cannot  be  spared,  and  must  be  had 
in  that  form,  and  absorbents  provided  to  take  off  its 
edge." 

The  "  two  economies  which  are  the  best  suc- 
cedanea"  for  deficiency  of  temperament  are  con 
centration  and  drill.  This  he  illustrates  by  ex 
ample,  and  he  also  lays  down  some  good,  plain, 
practical  rules  which  "  Poor  Richard "  would 
have  cheerfully  approved.  He  might  have  ac 
cepted  also  the  Essay  on  "  Wealth  "  as  having 
a  good  sense  so  like  his  own  that  he  could 
hardly  tell  the  difference  between  them. 


232  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  Wealth  begins  in  a  tight  roof  that  keeps  the  rain 
and  wind  out ;  in  a  good  pump  that  yields  you  plenty 
of  sweet  water ;  in  two  suits  of  clothes,  so  as  to 
change  your  dress  when  you  are  wet ;  in  dry  sticks 
to  burn  ;  in  a  good  double-wick  lamp,  and  three 
meals  ;  in  a  horse  or  locomotive  to  cross  the  land ; 
in  a  boat  to  cross  the  sea  ;  in  tools  to  work  with  ;  in 
books  to  read ;  and  so,  in  giving,  on  all  sides,  by 
tools  and  auxiliaries,  the  greatest  possible  extension 
to  our  powers,  as  if  it  added  feet,  and  hands,  and 
eyes,  and  blood,  length  to  the  day,  and  knowledge 
and  good  will.  Wealth  begins  with  these  articles  of 
necessity.  — 

"  To  be  rich  is  to  have  a  ticket  of  admission  to  the 
masterworks  and  chief  men  of  each  race.  — 

"  The  pulpit  and  the  press  have  many  common 
places  denouncing  the  thirst  for  wealth  ;  but  if  men 
should  take  these  moralists  at  their  word,  and  leave 
off  aiming  to  be  rich,  the  moralists  would  rush  to  re 
kindle  at  all  hazards  this  love  of  power  in  the  people, 
lest  civilization  should  be  undone." 

Who  can  give  better  counsels  on  "  Culture  " 
than  Emerson  ?  But  we  must  borrow  only  a  few 
sentences  from  his  essay  on  that  subject.  All 
kinds  of  secrets  come  out  as  we  read  these 
Essays  of  Emerson's.  We  know  something  of 
his  friends  and  disciples  who  gathered  round 
him  and  sat  at  his  feet.  It  is  not  hard  to  be 
lieve  that  he  was  drawing  one  of  those  composite 
portraits  Mr.  Galton  has  given  us  specimens  of 
when  he  wrote  as  follows  :  — 


"CULTURE."  233 

"  The  pest  of  society  is  egotism.  This  goitre  of 
egotism  is  so  frequent  among  notable  persons  that  we 
must  infer  some  strong  necessity  in  nature  which  it 
subserves  ;  such  as  we  see  in  the  sexual  attraction. 
The  preservation  of  the  species  was  a  point  of  such 
necessity  that  Nature  has  secured  it  at  all  hazards  by 
immensely  overloading  the  passion,  at  the  risk  of  per 
petual  crime  and  disorder.  So  egotism  has  its  root 
in  the  cardinal  necessity  by  which  each  individual 
persists  to  be  what  he  is. 

"  The  antidotes  against  this  organic  egotism  are, 
the  range  and  variety  of  attraction,  as  gained  by  ac 
quaintance  with  the  world,  with  men  of  merit,  with 
classes  of  society,  with  travel,  with  eminent  persons, 
and  with  the  high  resources  of  philosophy,  art,  and 
religion :  books,  travel,  society,  solitude." 

"  We  can  ill  spare  the  commanding  social  benefits 
of  cities ;  they  must  be  used ;  yet  cautiously  and 
haughtily,  —  and  will  yield  their  best  values  to  him 
who  can  best  do  without  them.  Keep  the  town  for 
occasions,  but  the  habits  should  be  formed  to  retire 
ment.  Solitude,  the  safeguard  of  mediocrity,  is  to 
genius  the  stern  friend,  the  cold,  obscure  shelter, 
where  moult  the  wings  which  will  bear  it  farther  than 
suns  and  stars." 

We  must  remember,  too,  that  "  the  calamities 
are  our  friends.  Try  the  rough,  water  as  well 
as  the  smooth.  Rough  water  can  teach  lessons 
worth  knowing.  Don't  be  so  tender  at  making 
an  enemy  now  and  then.  He  who  aims  high, 


234  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

must  dread  an  easy  home  and  popular  man 
ners." 

Emerson  cannot  have  had  many  enemies,  if 
any,  in  his  calm  and  noble  career.  He  can  have 
cherished  no  enmity,  on  personal  grounds  at 
least.  But  he  refused  his  hand  to  one  who  had 
spoken  ill  of  a  friend  whom  he  respected.  It 
was  "  the  hand  of  Douglas  "  again,  —  the  same 
feeling  that  Charles  Emerson  expressed  in  the 
youthful  essay  mentioned  in  the  introduction  to 
this  volume. 

Here  are  a  few  good  sayings  about  "  Be 
havior." 

"  There  is  always  a  best  way  of  doing  everything, 
if  it  be  to  boil  an  egg.  Manners  are  the  happy  ways 
of  doing  things ;  each  once  a  stroke  of  genius  or  of 
love,  —  now  repeated  and  hardened  into  usage." 

Thus  it  is  that  Mr.  Emerson  speaks  of  "  Man 
ners  "  in  his  Essay  under  the  above  title. 

"  The  basis  of  good  manners  is  self-reliance.  — 
Manners  require  time,  as  nothing  is  more  vulgar  than 
haste.  — 

"  Men  take  each  other's  measure,  when  they  meet 
for  the  first  time,  —  and  every  time  they  meet.  — 

"  It  is  not  what  talents  or  genius  a  man  has,  but 
how  he  is  to  his  talents,  that  constitutes  friendship 
and  character.  The  man  that  stands  by  himself,  the 
universe  stands  by  him  also." 


"  WORSHIP."  235 

In  his  Essay  on  "  Worship,"  Emerson  ventures 
the  following  prediction  :  — 

"  The  religion  which  is  to  guide  and  fulfil  the 
present  and  coming  ages,  whatever  else  it  be,  must  he 
intellectual.  The  scientific  mind  must  have  a  faith 
which  is  science.  —  There  will  be  a  new  church 
founded  on  moral  science,  at  first  cold  and  naked,  a 
babe  in  a  manger  again,  the  algebra  and  mathematics 
of  ethical  law,  the  church  of  men  to  come,  without 
shawms  or  psaltery  or  sackbut ;  but  it  will  have  heaven 
and  earth  for  its  beams  and  rafters ;  science  for  sym 
bol  and  illustration  ;  it  will  fast  enough  gather  beauty, 
music,  picture,  poetry." 

It  is  a  bold  prophecy,  but  who  can  doubt  that 
all  improbable  and  un verifiable  traditional  knowl 
edge  of  all  kinds  will  make  way  for  the  estab 
lished  facts  of  science  and  history  when  these 
last  reach  it  in  their  onward  movement  ?  It  may 
be  remarked  that  he  now  speaks  of  science  more 
respectfully  than  of  old.  I  suppose  this  Essay 
was  of  later  date  than  "Beauty,"  or  "Illusions." 
But  accidental  circumstances  made  such  con 
fusion  in  the  strata  of  Emerson's  published 
thought  that  one  is  often  at  a  loss  to  know 
whether  a  sentence  came  from  the  older  or  tha 
newer  layer. 

We  come  to  "  Considerations  by  the  Way." 
The  common-sense  side  of  Emerson's  mind  has 
so  much  in  common  with  the  plain  practical  in- 


236  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

telligence  of  Franklin  that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  find 
the  philosopher  of  the  nineteenth  century  quoting 
the  philosopher  of  the  eighteenth. 

"  Franklin  said,  '  Mankind  are  very  superficial  and 
dastardly  :  they  begin  upon  a  thing,  but,  meeting  with 
a  difficulty,  they  fly  from  it  discouraged :  but  they 
have  the  means  if  they  would  employ  them.'  " 

"  Shall  we  judge  a  country  by  the  majority,  or 
by  the  minority  ?  By  the  minority,  surely."  Here 
we  have  the  doctrine  of  the  "  saving  remnant," 
which  we  have  since  recognized  in  Mr.  Matthew 
Arnold's  well-remembered  lecture.  Our  repub 
lican  philosopher  is  clearly  enough  outspoken  on 
this  matter  of  the  vox  populi.  "  Leave  this  hypo 
critical  prating  about  the  masses.  Masses  are 
rude,  lame,  unmade,  pernicious  in  their  demands, 
and  need  not  to  be  flattered,  but  to  be  schooled. 
I  wish  not  to  concede  anything  to  them,  but  to 
tame,  drill,  divide,  and  break  them  up,  and  draw 
individuals  out  of  them." 

Pere  Bouhours  asked  a  question  about  the 
Germans  which  found  its  answer  in  due  time. 
After  reading  what  Emerson  says  about  "  the 
masses,"  one  is  tempted  to  ask  whether  a  philos 
opher  can  ever  have  "  a  constituency  "  and  be 
elected  to  Congress?  Certainly  the  essay  just 
quoted  from  would  not  make  a  very  promising 
campaign  document. 


"BEAUTY."  237 

Perhaps  there  was  no  great  necessity  for  Emer 
son's  returning  to  the  subject  of  "  Beauty,"  to 
which  he  had  devoted  a  chapter  of  "  Nature," 
and  of  which  he  had  so  often  discoursed  inciden 
tally.  But  he  says  so  many  things  worth  read 
ing  in  the  Essay  thus  entitled  in  the  "  Conduct  of 
Life  "  that  we  need  not  trouble  ourselves  about 
repetitions.  The  Essay  is  satirical  and  poetical 
rather  than  philosophical.  Satirical  when  he 
speaks  of  science  with  something  of  that  old  feel 
ing  betrayed  by  his  brother  Charles  when  he  was 
writing  in  1828 ;  poetical  in  the  flight  of  imag 
ination  with  which  he  enlivens,  entertains,  stim 
ulates,  inspires,  —  or  as  some  may  prefer  to  say, 
—  amuses  his  listeners  and  readers. 

The  reader  must  decide  which  of  these  effects 
is  produced  by  the  following  passage  :  — 

"  The  feat  of  the  imagination  is  in  showing  the 
convertibility  of  everything  into  every  other  thing. 
Facts  which  had  never  before  left  their  stark  com 
mon  sense  suddenly  figure  as  Eleusinian  mysteries. 
My  boots  and  chair  and  candlestick  are  fairies  in 
disguise,  meteors,  and  constellations.  All  the  facts  in 
Nature  are  nouns  of  the  intellect,  and  make  the 
grammar  of  the  eternal  language.  Every  word  lias  a 
double,  treble,  or  centuple  use  and  meaning.  What! 
has  my  stove  and  pepper-pot  a  false  bottom  ?  I  cry 
you  mercy,  good  shoe-box !  I  did  not  know  you  were 
a  jewel-case.  Chaff  and  dust  begin  to  sparkle,  and 


238  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

are  clothed  about  with  immortality.  And  there  is  a 
joy  in  perceiving  the  representative  or  symbolic  char 
acter  of  a  fact,  which  no  base  fact  or  event  can  ever 
give.  There  are  no  days  so  memorable  as  those  which 
vibrated  to  some  stroke  of  the  imagination." 

One  is  reminded  of  various  things  in  reading 
this  sentence.  An  ounce  of  alcohol,  or  a  few 
whiffs  from  an  opium-pipe,  may  easily  make  a 
day  memorable  by  bringing  on  this  imaginative 
delirium,  which  is  apt,  if  often  repeated,  to  run 
into  visions  of  rodents  and  reptiles.  A  coarser 
satirist  than  Emerson  indulged  his  fancy  in 
"Meditations  on  a  Broomstick,"  which  My  Lady 
Berkeley  heard  seriously  and  to  edification. 
Meditations  on  a  "  Shoe-box "  are  less  promis 
ing,  but  no  doubt  something  could  be  made  of 
it.  A  poet  must  select,  and  if  he  stoops  too  low 
he  cannot  lift  the  object  he  would  fain  idealize. 

The  habitual  readers  of  Emerson  do  not  mind 
an  occasional  over-statement,  extravagance,  par 
adox,  eccentricity ;  they  find  them  amusing  and 
not  misleading.  But  the  accountants,  for  whom 
two  and  two  always  make  four,  come  upon  one 
of  these  passages  and  shut  the  book  up  as  want 
ing  in  sanity.  Without  a  certain  sensibility  to 
the  humorous,  no  one  should  venture  upon  Em 
erson.  If  he  had  seen  the  lecturer's  smile  as  he 
delivered  one  of  his  playful  statements  of  a  run 
away  truth,  fact  unhorsed  by  imagination,  some- 


"ILLUSIONS."  239 

times  by  wit,  or  humor,  he  would  have  found  a 
meaning  in  his  words  which  the  featureless 
printed  page  could  never  show  him. 

The  Essay  on  "  Illusions  "  has  little  which  we 
have  not  met  with,  or  shall  not  find  repeating 
itself  in  the  Poems. 

During  this  period  Emerson  contributed  many 
articles  in  prose  and  verse  to  the  "Atlantic 
Monthly,"  and  several  to  "  The  Dial,"  a  second 
periodical  of  that  name  published  in  Cincinnati. 
Some  of  these  have  been,  or  will  be,  elsewhere 
referred  to. 


CHAPTER  X. 

1863-1868.    Mr.  60-65. 

"  Boston  Hymn."  —  "  Voluntaries."  —  Other  Poems.  —  "  May- 
Day  and  other  Pieces."  —  "Remarks  at  the  Funeral  Ser 
vices  of  Abraham  Lincoln."  —  Essay  on  Persian  Poetry. — 
Address  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Free  Religious  Association. 
— "  Progress  of  Culture."  Address  before  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society  of  Harvard  University.  —  Course  of  Lec 
tures  in  Philadelphia.  —  The  Degree  of  LL.  D.  conferred 
upon  Emerson  by  Harvard  University.  —  "  Terminus." 

THE  "  Boston  Hymn  "  was  read  by  Emerson 
in  the  Music  Hall,  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
1863.  It  is  a  rough  piece  of  verse,  but  noble 
from  beginning  to  end.  One  verse  of  it,  begin 
ning  "Pay  ransom  to  the  owner,"  has  been  al 
ready  quoted ;  these  are  the  three  that  precede 

it:  — 

"  I  cause  from  every  creature 
His  proper  good  to  flow: 
As  much  as  he  is  and  doeth 
So  much  shall  he  bestow. 

"  But  laying  hands  on  another 

To  coin  his  labor  and  sweat, 
He  goes  in  pawn  to  his  victim 
For  eternal  years  in  debt. 


"VOLUNTARIES."  241 

"  To-day  unbind  the  captive, 
So  only  are  ye  unbound  : 
Lift  up  a  people  from  the  dust, 
Trump  of  their  rescue,  sound  !  " 

"  Voluntaries,"  published  in  the  same  year  in 
the  "  Atlantic  Monthly,"  is  more  dithyrambic  in 
its  measure  and  of  a  more  Pindaric  elevation  than 
the  plain  song  of  the  "  Boston  Hymn." 

"  But  best  befriended  of  the  God 
He  who,  in  evil  times, 
Warned  by  an  inward  voice, 
Heeds  not  the  darkness  and  the  dread, 
Biding  by  his  rule  and  choice, 
Feeling  only  the  fiery  thread 
Leading  over  heroic  ground, 
Walled  with  mortal  terror  round, 
To  the  aim  which  him  allures, 
And  the  sweet  heaven  his  deed  secures. 
Peril  around,  all  else  appalling, 
Cannon  in  front  and  leaden  rain 
Him  duly  through  the  clarion  calling 
To  the  van  called  not  in  vain." 

It  is  in  this  poem  that  we  find  the  lines  which, 
a  moment  after  they  were  written,  seemed  as  if 
they  had  been  carved  on  marble  for  a  thousand 
years : — 

"  So  nigh  is  grandeur  to  our  dust, 
So  near  is  God  to  man, 
When  Duty  whispers  low,  Thou  must, 
The  youth  replies,  / can" 
16 


242  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  Saadi  "  was  published  in  the  "  Atlantic 
Monthly"  in  1864,  "My  Garden"  in  1866, 
"  Terminus  "  in  1867.  In  the  same  year  these 
last  poems  with  many  others  were  collected  in  a 
small  volume,  entitled  "  May-Day,  and  Other 
Pieces.*"  The  general  headings  of  these  poems 
are  as  follows  :  May-Day.  —  The  Adirondacs.  — 
Occasional  and  Miscellaneous  Pieces.  —  Nature 
and  Life.  —  Elements.  —  Quatrains.  —  Transla 
tions.  —  Some  of  these  poems,  which  were  writ 
ten  at  long  intervals,  have  been  referred  to  in 
previous  pages.  "  The  Adirondacs  "  is  a  pleas 
ant  narrative,  but  not  to  be  compared  for  its 
poetical  character  with  "  May-Day,"  one  passage 
from  which,  beginning, 

"  I  saw  the  bud-crowned  Spring  go  forth," 

is  surpassingly  imaginative  and  beautiful.  In 
this  volume  will  be  found  "  Brahma,"  "  Days," 
and  others  which  are  well  known  to  all  readers 
of  poetry. 

Emerson's  delineations  of  character  are  re 
markable  for  high-relief  and  sharp-cut  lines.  In 
his  Remarks  at  the  Funeral  Services  for  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  held  in  Concord,  April  19,  1865, 
he  drew  the  portrait  of  the  homespun  -  robed 
chief  of  the  Republic  with  equal  breadth  and 
delicacy :  — 


"FREE  RELIGIOUS  ASSOCIATION."         243 

"  Here  was  place  for  no  holiday  magistrate,  no 
fair  weather  sailor  ;  the  new  pilot  was  hurried  to  the 
helm  in  a  tornado.  In  four  years,  —  four  years  of 
battle-days,  —  his  endurance,  his  fertility  of  resources, 
his  magnanimity,  were  sorely  tried  and  never  found 
wanting.  There,  by  his  courage,  his  justice,  his  even 
temper,  his  fertile  counsel,  his  humanity,  he  stood  a 
heroic  figure  in  the  centre  of  a  heroic  epoch.  He  is 
the  true  history  of  the  American  people  in  his  time. 
Step  by  step  he  walked  before  them ;  slow  with  their 
slowness,  quickening  his  march  by  theirs,  the  true 
representative  of  this  continent ;  an  entirely  public 
man  ;  father  of  his  country ;  the  pulse  of  twenty 
millions  throbbing  in  his  heart,  the  thought  of  their 
minds  articulated  by  his  tongue." 

In  his  "  Kemarks  at  the  Organization  of  the 
Free  Religious  Association,"  Emerson  stated  his 
leading  thought  about  religion  in  a  very  succinct 
and  sufficiently  "  transcendental ''  way :  intelli 
gibly  for  those  who  wish  to  understand  hhnj 
mystically  to  those  who  do  not  accept  or  wish  to 
accept  the  doctrine  shadowed  forth  in  his  poem, 
"The  Sphinx." 

—  "As  soon  as  every  man  is  apprised  of  the 
Divine  Presence  within  his  own  mind,  —  is  apprised 
that  the  perfect  law  of  duty  corresponds  with  the 
laws  of  chemistry,  of  vegetation,  of  astronomy,  as 
face  to  face  in  a  glass  ;  that  the  basis  of  duty,  the 
order  of  society,  the  power  of  character,  the  wealth 


244  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

of  culture,  the  perfection  of  taste,  all  draw  their 
essence  from  this  moral  sentiment ;  then  we  have  a 
religion  that  exalts,  that  commands  all  the  social  and 
all  the  private  action." 

Nothing  could  be  more  wholesome  in  a 
meeting  of  creed-killers  than  the  suggestive  re 
mark,  — 

—  "  What  I  expected  to  find  here  was,  some  prac 
tical  suggestions  by  which  we  were  to  reanimate  and 
reorganize  for  ourselves  the  true  Church,  the  pure 
worship.  Pure  doctrine  always  bears  fruit  in  pure 
benefits.  It  is  only  by  good  works,  it  is  only  on  the 
basis  of  active  duty,  that  worship  finds  expression.  — 
The  interests  that  grow  out  of  a  meeting  like  this, 
should  bind  us  with  new  strength  to  the  old  eternal 
duties." 

In  a  later  address  before  the  same  association, 
Emerson  says  :  — 

"  I  object,  of  course,  to  the  claim  of  miraculous 
dispensation,  —  certainly  not  to  the  doctrine  of  Chris 
tianity.  —  If  you  are  childish  and  exhibit  your  saint 
as  a  worker  of  wonders,  a  thaumaturgist,  I  am  re 
pelled.  That  claim  takes  his  teachings  out  of  nature, 
and  permits  official  and  arbitrary  senses  to  be  grafted 
on  the  teachings." 

The  "  Progress  of-  Culture  "  was  delivered  as 
a  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration  just  thirty  years  after 
his  first  address  before  the  same  society.  It  is 
very  instructive  to  compare  the  two  orations 


"PROGRESS   OF  CULTURE."1  245 

written  at  the  interval  of  a  whole  generation : 
one  in  1837,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four ;  the  other 
in  186 T,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four.  Both  are 
hopeful,  but  the  second  is  more  sanguine  than 
the  first.  He  recounts  what  he  considers  the 
recent  gains  of  the  reforming  movement :  — 

"  Observe  the  marked  ethical  quality  of  the  inno 
vations  urged  or  adopted.  The  new  claim  of  woman 
to  a  political  status  is  itself  an  honorable  testimony  to 
the  civilization  which  has  given  her  a  civil  status  new 
in  history.  Now  that  by  the  increased  humanity  of 
law  she  controls  her  property,  she  inevitably  takes  the 
next  step  to  her  share  in  power." 

He  enumerates  many  other  gains,  from  the 
war  or  from  the  growth  of  intelligence,  —  "  All, 
one  may  say,  in  a  high  degree  revolutionary, 
teaching  nations  the  taking  of  governments  into 
their  own  hands,  and  superseding  kings." 

He  repeats  some  of  his  fundamental  formulae. 

"The  foundation  of  culture,  as  of  character,  is  at 
last  the  moral  sentiment. 

"  Great  men  are  they  who  see  that  spiritual  is 
stronger  than  any  material  force,  that  thoughts  rule 
the  world. 

"  Periodicity,  reaction,  are  laws  of  mind  as  well  as 
of  matter." 

And  most  encouraging  it  is  to  read  in  1884 
what  was  written  in  1867,  —  especially  in  the 
view  of  future  possibilities. 


246  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"Bad  kings  and  governors  help  us,  if  only 
they  are  bad  enough."  Non  tali  auxilio,  we 
exclaim,  with  a  shudder  of  remembrance,  and 
are  very  glad  to  read  these  concluding  words : 
"  I  read  the  promise  of  better  times  and  of 
greater  men." 

In  the  year  1866,  Emerson  reached  the  age 
which  used  to  be  spoken  of  as  the  "  grand  cli 
macteric."  In  that  year  Harvard  University 
conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws,  the  highest  honor  in  its  gift. 

In  that  same  year,  having  left  home  on  one  of 
his  last  lecturing  trips,  he  met  his  son,  Dr. 
Edward  Waldo  Emerson,  at  the  Brevoort  House, 
in  New  York.  Then,  and  in  that  place,  he  read 
to  his  son  the  poem  afterwards  published  in  the 
"  Atlantic  Monthly,"  and  in  his  second  volume, 
under  the  title  "  Terminus."  This  was  the  first 
time  that  Dr.  Emerson  recognized  the  fact  that 
his  father  felt  himself  growing  old.  The  thought, 
which  must  have  been  long  shaping  itself  in  the 
father's  mind,  had  been  so  far  from  betraying 
itself  that  it  was  a  shock  to  the  son  to  hear  it 
plainly  avowed.  The  poem  is  one  of  his  noblest ; 
he  could  not  fold  his  robes  about  him  with  more 
of  serene  dignity  than  in  these  solemn  lines.  The 
reader  may  remember  that  one  passage  from  it 
has  been  quoted  for  a  particular  purpose,  but  here 
is  the  whole  poem :  — 


TERM  IN  U3.  247 

TERMINUS. 

It  is  time  to  be  old, 

To  take  in  sail :  — 

The  god  of  bounds, 

Who  sets  to  seas  a  shore, 

Came  to  me  in  his  fatal  rounds, 

And  said  :  "  No  more  ( 

No  farther  shoot 

Thy  broad  ambitious  branches,  and  thy  root. 

Fancy  departs  :  no  more  invent  ; 

Contract  thy  firmament 

To  compass  of  a  tent. 

There  's  not  enough  for  this  and  that, 

Make  thy  option  which  of  two  ; 

Economize  the  failing  river, 

Not  the  less  revere  the  Giver, 

Leave  the  many  and  hold  the  few, 

Timely  wise  accept  the  terms, 

Soften  the  fall  with  wary  foot ; 

A  little  while 

Still  plan  and  smile, 

And,  —  fault  of  novel  germs,  — 

Mature  the  unfallen  fruit. 

Curse,  if  thou  wilt,  thy  sires, 

Bad  husbands  of  their  fires, 

Who  when  they  gave  thee  breath, 

Failed  to  bequeath 

The  needful  sinew  stark  as  once, 

The  baresark  marrow  to  thy  bones, 

But  left  a  legacy  of  ebbing  veins, 

Inconstant  heat  and  nerveless  reins,  — 

Amid  the  Muses,  left  thee  deaf  and  dumb, 

Amid  the  gladiators,  halt  and  numb. 


248  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  As  the  bird  trims  her  to  the  gale 
I  trim  myself  to  the  storm  of  time, 
I  man  the  rudder,  reef  the  sail, 
Obey  the  voice  at  eve  obeyed  at  prime  : 

'Lowly  faithful,  banish  fear, 
Right  onward  drive  unharmed  ; 
The  port,  well  worth  the  cruise,  is  near, 
And  every  wave  is  charmed.'" 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1868-1873.    Mt.  65-70. 

Lectures  on  the  Natural  History  of  the  Intellect. — Publication 
of  "  Society  and  Solitude."  Contents :  Society  and  Solitude. 
—  Civilization.  —  Art.  —  Eloquence.  —  Domestic  Life.  — 
Farming.  —  Works  and  Days. —  Books.  —  Clubs. —  Cour 
age.  —  Success.  —  Old  Age.  —  Other  Literary  Labors.  — 
Visit  to  California.  —  Burning  of  his  House,  and  ihe  Story 
of  its  Rebuilding.  —  Third  Visit  to  Europe.  —  His  Reception 
at  Concord  on  his  Return. 

DURING  three  successive  years,  1868,  1869, 
1870,  Emerson  delivered  a  series  of  Lectures  at 
Harvard  Universuty  on  the  "  Natural  History  of 
the  Intellect."  These  Lectures,  as  I  am  told  by 
Dr.  Emerson,  cost  him  a  great  deal  of  labor,  but 
I  am  not  aware  that  they  have  been  collected  or 
reported.  They  will  be  referred  to  in  the  course 
of  this  chapter,  in  an  extract  from  Prof.  Thay- 
er's  "  Western  Journey  with  Mr.  Emerson." 
He  is  there  reported  as  saying  that  he  cared 
very  little  for  metaphysics.  It  is  very  certain 
that  he  makes  hardly  any  use  of  the  ordinary 
terms  employed  by  metaphysicians.  If  he  does 
not  hold  the  words  "subject  and  object"  with 
their  adjectives,  in  the  same  contempt  that  Mr. 


250  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

Ruskin  shows  for  them,  he  very  rarely  employs 
either  of  these  expressions.  Once  he  ventures 
on  the  not  me,  but  in  the  main  he  uses  plain 
English  handles  for  the  few  metaphysical  tools 
he  has  occasion  to  employ. 

"  Society  and  Solitude "  Was  published  in 
1870.  The  first  Essay  in  the  volume  bears  the 
same  name  as  the  volume  itself. 

In  this  first  Essay  Emerson  is  very  fair  to  the 
antagonistic  claims  of  solitary  and  social  life. 
He  recognizes  the  organic  necessity  of  solitude. 
We  are  driven  "  as  with  whips  into  the  desert." 
But  there  is  danger  in  this  seclusion.  "  Now 
and  then  a  man  exquisitely  made  can  live  alone 
and  must ;  but  coop  up  most  men  and  you  undo 
them.  —  Here  again,  as  so  often,  Nature  delights 
to  put  us  between  extreme  antagonisms,  and  our 
safety  is  in  the  skill  with  which  we  keep  the 
diagonal  line.  —  The  conditions  are  met,  if  we 
keep  our  independence  yet  do  not  lose  our  sym 
pathy." 

The  Essay  on  "  Civilization  "  is  pleasing,  put 
ting  familiar  facts  in  a  very  agreeable  way. 
The  framed  or  stone-house  in  place  of  the  cave 
or  the  camp,  the  building  of  roads,  the  change 
from  war,  hunting,  and  pasturage  to  agriculture, 
the  division  of  labor,  the  skilful  combinations 
of  civil  government,  the  diffusion  of  knowledge 


"  CIVILIZATION."  251 

through  the  press,  are  well  worn  subjects  which, 
he  treats  agreeably,  if  not  with  special  bril 
liancy  :  — 

"  Right  position  of  woman  in  the  State  is  another 
index.  —  Place  the  sexes  in  right  relations  of  mutual 
respect,  and  a  severe  morality  gives  that  essential 
charm  to  a  woman  which  educates  all  that  is  delicate, 
poetic,  and  self-sacrificing ;  breeds  courtesy  and  learn 
ing,  conversation  and  wit,  in  her  rough  mate,  so  that 
I  have  thought  a  sufficient  measure  of  civilization  13 
the  influence  of  good  women." 

My  attention  was  drawn  to  one  paragraph  for 
a  reason  which  my  reader  will  readily  understand, 
and  I  trust  look  upon  good-naturedly :  — 

"  The  ship,  in  its  latest  complete  equipment,  is  an 
abridgment  and  compend  of  a  nation's  arts :  the  ship 
steered  by  compass  and  chart,  longitude  reckoned  by 
lunar  observation  and  by  chronometer,  driven  by 
steam  ;  and  in  wildest  sea-mountains,  at  vast  distances 
from  home,  — 

"  '  The  pulses  of  her  iron  heart 

Go  beating  through  the  storm.' " 

I  cannot  be  wrong,  it  seems  to  me,  in  supposing 
those  two  lines  to  be  an  incorrect  version  of 
these  two  from  a  poem  of  my  own  called  "  The 
Steamboat : " 

"  The  beating  of  her  restless  heart 
Still  sounding  through  the  storm." 

It  is  never  safe  to  quote  poetry  from  memory, 


252  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

at  least  while  the  writer  lives,  for  he  is  ready  to 
"cavil  on  the  ninth  part  of  a  hair"  where  his 
verses  are  concerned.  But  extreme  accuracy  was 
not  one  of  Emerson's  special  gifts,  and  vanity 
whispers  to  the  misrepresented  versifier  that 

't  is  better  to  be  quoted  wrong 
Than  to  be  quoted  not  at  all. 

This  Essay  of  Emerson's  is  irradiated  by  a 
single  precept  that  is  worthy  to  stand  by  the  side 
of  that  which  Juvenal  says  came  from  heaven. 
How  could  the  man  in  whose  thought  such  a 
meteoric  expression  suddenly  announced  itself 
fail  to  recognize  it  as  divine  ?  It  is  not  strange 
that  he  repeats  it  on  the  page  next  the  one 
where  we  first  see  it.  Not  having  any  golden 
letters  to  print  it  in,  I  will  underscore  it  for 
italics,  and  doubly  underscore  it  in  the  second 
extract  for  small  capitals  :  — 

"  Now  that  is  the  wisdom  of  a  man,  in  every  in 
stance  of  his  labor,  to  hitch  his  wagon  to  a  star,  and 
see  his  chore  done  by  the  gods  themselves."  — 

" '  It  was  a  great  instruction,'  said  a  saint  in  Crom 
well's  war,  '  that  the  best  courages  are  but  beams  of 
the  Almighty.'  HITCH  YOUR  WAGON  TO  A  STAR. 
Let  us  not  fag  in  paltry  works  which  serve  our  pot 
and  bag  alone.  Let  us  not  lie  and  steal.  No  god 
will  help.  We  shall  find  all  their  teams  going  the 
other  way,  —  Charles's  Wain,  Great  Bear,  Orion, 
Leo,  Hercules  :  every  god  will  leave  us.  Work  rather 


"ART"  253 

for  those  interests  which  the  divinities  honor  and 
promote,  —  justice,  love,  freedom,  knowledge,  util- 
ity."  — 

Charles's  Wain  and  the  Great  Bear,  he  should 
have  been  reminded,  are  the  same  constellation ; 
the  Dipper  is  what  our  people  often  call  it,  and 
the  country  folk  all  know  "  the  plnters,"  which 
guide  their  eyes  to  the  North  Star. 

I  find  in  the  Essay  on  "  Art "  many  of  the 
thoughts  with  which  we  are  familiar  in  Emer 
son's  poem,  "  The  Problem."  It  will  be  enough 
to  cite  these  passages :  — 

"  We  feel  in  seeing  a  noble  building  which  rhyinea 
well,  as  we  do  in  hearing  a  perfect  song,  that  it  i* 
spiritually  organic  ;  that  it  had  a  necessity  in  nature 
for  being ;  was  one  of  the  possible  forms  in  the 
Divine  mind,  and  is  now  only  discovered  and  exe 
cuted  by  the  artist,  not  arbitrarily  composed  by  him. 
And  so  every  genuine  work  of  art  has  as  much  reason 
for  being  as  the  earth  and  the  sun.  — 

—  "  The  Iliad  of  Homer,  the  songs  of  David,  the 
odes  of  Pindar,  the  tragedies  of  ^schylus,  the  Doric 
temples,  the  Gothic  cathedrals,  the  plays  of  Shak- 
speare,  all   and  each  were  made  not  for  sport,  but 
in  grave  earnest,  in  tears  and  smiles  of  suffering  and 
loving  men.  — 

—  "  The  Gothic   cathedrals  were  built  when  the 
builder  and  the  priest  and  the   people  were   over 
powered  by  their  faith.     Lovfe  and  fear  kid  every 
stone.  — 


254  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  Our  arts  are  happy  hits.  "We  are  like  the  musi 
cian  on  the  lake,  whose  melody  is  sweeter  than  he 
knows." 

The  discourse  on  "  Eloquence  "  is  more  sys 
tematic,  more  professorial,  than  many  of  the 
others.  A  few  brief  extracts  will  give  the  key 
to  its  general  purport :  — 

"  Eloquence  must  be  grounded  on  the  plainest 
narrative.  Afterwards,  it  may  warm  itself  until  it 
exhales  symbols  of  every  kind  and  color,  speaks  only 
through  the  most  poetic  forms  ;  but,  first  and  last,  it 
must  still  be  at  bottom  a  biblical  statement  of  fact.  — 

"  He  who  will  train  himself  to  mastery  in  this 
science  of  persuasion  must  lay  the  emphasis  of  educa 
tion,  not  on  popular  arts,  but  on  character  and  in 
sight.  — 

—  "  The  highest  platform  of  eloquence  is  the  moral 
sentiment.  — 

—  "  Its  great  masters  .  .  .  were  grave  men,  who 
preferred  their  integrity  to  their  talent,  and  esteemed 
that  object  for  which  they  toiled,  whether  the  pros 
perity  of  their  country,  or  the  laws,  or  a  reformation, 
or  liberty  of  speech,  or  of  the  press,  or  letters,  or 
morals,  as   above   the  whole  world   and  themselves 
also." 

"  Domestic  Life "  begins  with  a  picture  of 
childhood  so  charming  that  it  sweetens  all  the 
good  counsel  which  follows  like  honey  round 
the  rim  of  the  goblet  which  holds  some  tonic 
draught : — 


«  FARMING:'  255 

"  Welcome  to  the  parents  the ,  puny  straggler, 
strong  in  his  weakness,  his  little  arms  more  irresistible 
than  the  soldier's,  his  lips  touched  with  persuasion 
which  Chatham  and  Pericles  in  manhood  had  not. 
His  unaffected  lamentations  when  he  lifts  up  his 
voice  on  high,  or,  more  beautiful,  the  sobbing  child, 
—  the  face  all  liquid  grief,  as  he  tries  to  swallow  his 
vexation,  —  soften  all  hearts  to  pity,  and  to  mirthful 
and  clamorous  compassion.  The  small  despot  asks  so 
little  that  all  reason  and  all  nature  are  on  his  side. 
His  ignorance  is  more  charming  than  all  knowledge, 
and  his  little  sins  more  bewitching  than  any  virtue. 
His  flesh  is  angels'  flesh,  all  alive.  —  All  day,  be 
tween  his  three  or  four  sleeps,  he  coos  like  a  pigeon- 
house,  sputters  and  spurs  and  puts  on  his  faces  of 
importance  ;  and  when  he  fasts,  the  little  Pharisee 
fails  not  to  sound  his  trumpet  before  him." 

Emerson  has  favored  his  audiences  and  read 
ers  with  what  he  knew  about  "  Farming."  Dr. 
Emerson  tells  me  that  this  discourse  was  read 
as  an  address  before  the  "  Middlesex  Agri 
cultural  Society,"  and  printed  in  the  "  Transac 
tions  "  of  that  association.  He  soon  found  out 
that  the  hoe  and  the  spade  were  not  the  tools  he 
was  meant  to  work  with,  but  he  had  some  gen 
eral  ideas  about  farming  which  he  expressed 
very  happily :  — 

"  The  farmer's  office  is  precise  and  important,  but 
you  must  not  try  to  paint  him  in  rose-color  ;  you  can- 


256  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

not  make  pretty  compliments  to  fate  and  gravitation, 
whose  minister  he  is.  —  This  hard  work  will  always 
be  done  by  one  kind  of  m-an ;  not  by  scheming  specu 
lators,  nor  by  soldiers,  nor  professors,  nor  readers  of 
Tennyson ;  but  by  men  of  endurance,  deep-chested, 
long-winded,  tough,  slow  and  sure,  and  timely." 

Emerson's  chemistry  and  physiology  are  not 
profound,  but  they  are  correct  enough  to  make 
a  fine  richly  colored  poetical  picture  in  his  im 
aginative  presentation.  He  tells  the  common 
est  facts  so  as  to  make  them  almost  a  sur 
prise  :  — 

"  By  drainage  we  went  down  to  a  subsoil  we  did 
not  know,  and  have  found  there  is  a  Concord  under 
old  Concord,  which  we  are  now  getting  the  best  crops 
from ;  a  Middlesex  under  Middlesex  ;  and,  in  fine, 
that  Massachusetts  has  a  basement  story  more  valu 
able  and  that  promises  to  pay  a  better  rent  than  all 
the  superstructure." 

In  "  Works  and  Days "  there  is  much  good 
reading,  but  I  will  call  attention  to  one  or  two 
points  only,  as  having  a  slight  special  interest  of 
their  own.  The  first  is  the  boldness  of  Emer 
son's  assertions  and  predictions  in  matters  be 
longing  to  science  and  art.  Thus,  he  speaks  of 
"  the  transfusion  of  the  blood,  —  which,  in  Paris, 
it  was  claimed,  enables  a  man  to  change  his  blood 
as  often  as  his  linen  !  "  And  once  more, 


257 

"  We  are  to  have  the  balloon  yet,  and  the  next  war 
will  be  fought  in  the  air." 

Possibly ;  but  it  is  perhaps  as  safe  to  predict 
that  it  will  be  fought  on  wheels  ;  the  soldiers  on 
bicycles,  the  officers  on  tricycles. 

The  other  point  I  have  marked  is  that  we  find 
in  this  Essay  a  prose  version  of  the  fine  poem 
printed  in  "May-Day  "  under  the  title  "  Days." 
I  shall  refer  to  this  more  particularly  hereafter. 

It  is  wronging  the  Essay  on  "  Books  "  to  make 
extracts  from  it.  It  is  all  an  extract,  taken  from 
years  of  thought  in  the  lonely  study  and  the  pub 
lic  libraries.  If  I  commit  the  wrong  I  have 
spoken  of,  it  is  under  protest  against  myself. 
Every  word  of  this  Essay  deserves  careful  read 
ing.  But  here  are  a  few  sentences  I  have 
selected  for  the  reader's  consideration :  — 

"  There  are  books ;  and  it  is  practicable  to  read 
them  because  they  are  so  few.  — 

"  I  visit  occasionally  the  Cambridge  Library,  and 
I  can  seldom  go  there  without  renewing  the  convic 
tion  that  the  best  of  it  all  is  already  within  the  four 
walls  of  my  study  at  home.  — 

"  The  three  practical  rules  which  I  have  to  offer 
are,  1.  Never,  read  any  book  that  is  not  a  year  old. 
2.  Never  read  any  but  famed  books.  3.  Never 
read  any  but  what  you  like,  or,  in  Shakspeare's 
phrase,  — 

17 


258  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  '  No  profit  goes  where  is  no  pleasure  ta'en  : 
In  brief,  Sir,  study  what  you  most  affect.' " 

Emerson  has  a  good  deal  to  say  about  conver 
sation  in  his  Essay  on  "  Clubs,"  but  nothing  very 
notable  on  the  special  subject  of  the  Essay. 
Perhaps  his  diary  would  have  something  of  in 
terest  with  reference  to  the  "  Saturday  Club,"  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  which,  in  fact,  formed 
itself  around  him  as  a  nucleus,  and  which  he  at 
tended  very  regularly.  But  he  was  not  given  to 
personalities,  and  amonp;  the  m^n.  of-  genius  aj^A 
of  talent  who^  to  v.iet  there  no  one  was  quieter, 
"out  none  saw  and  heard  and  remembered  more. 
He  was  hardly  what  Dr.  Johnson  would  have 
called  a  "  clubable  "  man,  yet  he  enjoyed  the 
meetings  in  his  still  way,  or  he  would  never  have 
come  from  Concord  so  regularly  to  attend  them. 
He  gives  two  good  reasons  for  the  existence  of  a 
club  like  that  of  which  I  have  been  speaking :  — 

"  I  need  only  hint  the  value  of  the  club  for  bring 
ing  masters  in  their  several  arts  to  compare  and 
expand  their  views,  to  come  to  an  understanding  on 
these  points,  and  so  that  their  united  opinion  shall 
have  its  just  influence  on  public  questions  of  educa 
tion  and  politics." 

"  A  principal  purpose  also  is  the  hospitality  of  the 
club,  as  a  means  of  receiving  a  worthy  foreigner  with 
mutual  advantage." 

I  do  not  think  "  public  questions  of  education 


''COURAGE."  259 

and  politics  "  were  very  prominent  at  the  social 
meetings  of  the  "  Saturday  Club,"  but  "  worthy 
foreigners,"  and  now  and  then  one  not  so  wor 
thy,  added  variety  to  the  meetings  of  the  com 
pany,  which  included  a  wide  range  of  talents 
and  callings. 

All  that  Emerson  has  to  say  about  "  Courage  " 
is  worth  listening  to,  for  he  was  a  truly  brave 
man  in  that  sphere  of  action  where  there  are 
more  cowards  than  are  found  in  the  battle-field. 
He  spoke  his  convictions  fearlessly ;  he  carried 
the  spear  of  Ithuriel,  but  he  wore  no  breastplate 
save  that  which  protects  him 

"  Whose  armor  is  his  honest  thought, 
And  simple  truth  his  utmost  skill." 

He  mentions  three  qualities  as  attracting  the 
wonder  and  reverence  of  mankind:  1.  Disin 
terestedness  ;  2.  Practical  Power ;  3.  Courage. 
"  I  need  not  show  how  much  it  is  esteemed,  for 
the  people  give  it  the  first  rank.  They  forgive 
everything  to  it.  And  any  man  who  puts  his 
life  in  peril  in  a  cause  which  is  esteemed  be 
comes  the  darling  of  all  men."  —  There  are 
good  and  inspiriting  lessons  for  young  and 
old  in  this  Essay  or  Lecture,  which  closes  with 
the  spirited  ballad  of  "  George  Nidiver,"  writ 
ten  "  by  a  lady  to  whom  all  the  particulars  of 
the  fact  are  exactly  known." 


260  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

Men  will  read  any  essay  or  listen  to  any  lec 
ture  which  has  for  its  subject,  like  the  one 
now  before  me,  "  Success."  Emerson  complains 
of  the  same  things  in  America  which  Carlyle 
groaned  over  in  England  :  — 

"  We  countenance  each  other  in  this  life  of  show, 
puffing  advertisement,  and  manufacture  of  public 
opinion ;  and  excellence  is  lost  sight  of  in  the  hunger 
for  sudden  performance  and  praise.  — 

"Now,  though  I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  the 
reader  will  assent  to  all  my  propositions,  yet  I  think 
we  shall  agree  in  my  first  rule  for  success,  —  that  we 
shpU  ctop  the  brag  and  the  advertisement  and  take 
Michael  Angelo's  course,  '  to  confide  in  one's  self  and 
be  something  of  worth  and  value.'  " 

Reading  about  "Success"  is  after  all  very 
much  like  reading  in  old  books  of  alchemy. 
"How  not  to  do  it,"  is  the  lesson  of  all  the 
books  and  treatises.  Geber  and  Albertus  Mag 
nus,  Roger  Bacon  and  Raymond  Lully,  and  the 
whole  crew  of  "pauperes  alcumistae,"  all  give  the 
most  elaborate  directions  showing  their  student 
how  to  fail  in  transmuting  Saturn  into  Luna 
and  Sol  and  making  a  billionaire  of  himself. 
"  Success  "  in  its  vulgar  sense,  —  the  gaining  of 
money  and  position,  —  is  not  to  be  reached  by 
following  the  rules  of  an  instructor.  Our  "  self- 
made  men,"  who  govern  the  country  by  their 
wealth  and  influence,  have  found  their  place  by 


"OLD  AGE."  261 

adapting  themselves  to  the  particular  circum 
stances  in  which  they  were  placed,  and  not  by 
studying  the  broad  maxims  of  "  Poor  Richard," 
or  any  other  moralist  or  economist.  —  For  such 
as  these  is  meant  the  cheap  cynical  saying  quoted 
by  Emerson,  "  Rien  ne  reussit  mieux  que  le 
succes." 

But  this  is  not  the  aim  and  end  of  Emerson's 
teaching :  — 

"  I  fear  the  popular  notion  of  success  stands  in 
direct  opposition  in  all  points  to  the  real  and  whole 
some  success.  Ont,  adorss  public  opinion,  the  other 
private  opinion;  one  fame,  the  other  JeSCrt  ,L.one 
feats,  the  other  humility ;  one  lucre,  the  other  love ; 
one  monopoly,  and  the  other  hospitality  of  mind." 

And  so,  though  there  is  no  alchemy  in  this 
Lecture,  it  is  profitable  reading,  assigning  its 
true  value  to  the  sterling  gold  of  character,  the 
gaining  of  which  is  true  success,  as  against  the 
brazen  idol  of  the  market-place. 

The  Essay  on  "  Old  Age  "  has  a  special  value 
from  its  containing  two  personal  reminiscences : 
one  of  the  venerable  Josiah  Quincy,  a  brief 
mention ;  the  other  the  detailed  record  of  a  visit 
in  the  year  1825,  Emerson  being  then  twenty- 
two  years  old,  to  ex- President  John  Adams,  soon 
after  the  election  of  his  son  to  the  Presidency. 
It  is  enough  to  allude  to  these,  which  every 
reader  will  naturally  turn  to  first  of  all. 


262  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

But  many  thoughts  worth  gathering  are 
dropped  along  these  pages.  He  recounts  the 
benefits  of  age  ;  -the  perilous  capes  and  shoals  it 
has  weathered ;  the  fact  that  a  success  more  or 
less  signifies  little,  so  that  the  old  man  may  go 
below  his  own  mark  with  impunity  ;  the  feeling 
that  he  has  found  expression,  —  that  his  con 
dition,  in  particular  and  in  general,  allows  the 
utterance  of  his  mind ;  the  pleasure  of  complet 
ing  his  secular  affairs,  leaving  all  in  the  best 
posture  for  the  future  :  — 

"  When  lifo  ^f"  >*een.  well  spent,  age  is  a  loss  of 
-~itw  A  can  well  spare,  muscular  strength,  organic 
instincts,  gross  bulk,  and  works  that  belong  to  these. 
But  the  central  wisdom  which  was  old  in  infancy  is 
young  in  fourscore  years,  and  dropping  off  obstruc 
tions,  leaves  in  happy  subjects  the  mind  purified  and 
wise.  I  have  heard  that  whoever  loves  is  in  no  con 
dition  old.  I  have  heard  that  whenever  the  name  of 
man  is  spoken,  the  doctrine  of  immortality  is  an 
nounced  ;  it  cleaves  to  his  constitution.  The  mode 
of  it  baffles  our  wit,  and  no  whisper  comes  to  us  from 
the  other  side.  But  the  inference  from  the  working 
of  intellect,  hiving  knowledge,  hiving  skill,  —  at  the 
end  of  life  just  ready  to  be  born,  —  affirms  the  in 
spirations  of  affection  and  of  the  moral  sentiment." 

Other  literary  labors  of  Emerson  daring  this 
period  were  the  Introduction  to  "  Plutarch's 
Morals  "  in  1870,  and  a  Preface  to  William  El- 


VISIT  TO   CALIFORNIA.  263 

lery  Channing's  Poem,  "  The  Wanderer,"  in 
1871.  He  made  a  speech  at  Howard  University, 
Washington,  in  1872. 

In  the  year  1871  Emerson  made  a  visit  to 
California  with  a  very  pleasant  company,  con 
cerning  which  Mr.  John  M.  Forbes,  one  of  whose 
sons  married  Emerson's  daughter  Edith,  writes 
to  me  as  follows.  Professor  James  B.  Thayer,  to 
whom  he  refers,  has  more  recently  written  and 
published  an  account  of  this  trip,  from  which 
some  extracts  will  follow  Mr.  Forbes's  letter :  — 
.  .  BOSTON,  February  6,  1884. 

MY  DEAR  DR.,  —  What  little  I  can  give  will  be 
of  a  very  rambling  character. 

One  of  the  first  memories  of  Emerson  which  comes 
up  is  my  meeting  him  on  the  steamboat  at  returning 
from  Detroit  East.  I  persuaded  him  to  stop  over  at 
Niagara,  which  he  had  never  seen.  We  took  a  car 
riage  and  drove  around  the  circuit.  It  was  in  early 
summer,  perhaps  in  1848  or  1849.  When  we  came 
to  Table  Rock  on  the  British  side,  our  driver  took  us 
down  on  the  outer  part  of  the  rock  in  the  carriage. 
We  passed  on  by  rail,  and  the  next  day's  papers 
brought  us  the  telegraphic  news  that  Table  Rock  had 
fallen  over  ;  perhaps  we  were  among  the  last  persons 
on  it ! 

About  1871  I  made  up  a  party  for  California,  in 
cluding  Mr.  Emerson,  his  daughter  Edith,  and  a 

number  of  gay  young  people.  We  drove  with  B , 

the  famous  Vermont  coachman,  up  to  the  Geysers, 


264  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

and  then  made  the  journey  to  the  Yosemite  Valley 
by  wagon  and  on  horseback.  I  wish  I  could  give 
you  more  than  a  mere  outline  picture  of  the  sage  at 
this  time.  With  the  thermometer  at  100°  he  would 
sometimes  drive  with  the  buffalo  robes  drawn  up  over 
his  knees,  apparently  indifferent  to  the  weather,  gaz 
ing  on  the  new  and  grand  scenes  of  mountain  and 
valley  through  which  we  journeyed.  I  especially 
remember  once,  when  riding  down  the  steep  side  of  a 
mountain,  his  reins  hanging  loose,  the  bit  entirely 
out  of  the  horse's  mouth,  without  his  being  aware 
that  this  was  an  unusual  method  of  riding  Pegasus, 
so  fixed  was  hi.^,  gaze  into  apace,  and  so  unconscious 
was  he,  at  the  moment,  of  his  surroundings. 

In  San  Francisco  he  visited  with  us  the  dens  of  the 
opium  smokers,  in  damp  cellars,  with  rows  of  shelves 
around,  on  which  were  deposited  the  stupefied  Mon 
golians  ;  perhaps  the  lowest  haunts  of  humanity  to 
be  found  in  the  world.  The  contrast  between  them 
and  the  serene  eye  and  undisturbed  brow  of  the  sage 
was  a  sight  for  all  beholders. 

When  we  reached  Salt  Lake  City  on  our  way 
home  he  made  a  point  of  calling  on  Brigham  Young, 
then  at  the  summit  of  his  power.  The  Prophet,  or 
whatever  he  was  called,  was  a  burly,  bull-necked  man 
of  hard  sense,  really  leading  a  great  industrial  army. 
He  did  not  seem  to  appreciate  who  his  visitor  was,  at 
any  rate  gave  no  sign  of  so  doing,  and  the  chief  in 
terest  of  the  scene  was  the  wide  contrast  between 
these  leaders  of  spiritual  and  of  material  forces. 

I  regret  not  having  kept  any  notes  of  what  was 


VISIT  TO   CALIFORNIA.  265 

said  on  this  and  other  occasions,  but  if  by  chance  you 
could  get  hold  of  Professor  J.  B.  Thayer,  who  was 
one  of  our  party,  he  could  no  doubt  give  you  some 
notes  that  would  be  valuable. 

Perhaps  the  latest  picture  that  remains  in  my  mind 
of  our  friend  is  his  wandering  along  the  beaches  and 
under  the  trees  at  Naushon,  no  doubt  carrying  home 
large  stealings  from  my  domain  there",  which  lost 
none  of  their  value  from  being  transferred  to  his 
pages.  Next  to  his  private  readings  which  he  gave 
us  there,  the  most  notable  recollection  is  that  of  his 
intense  amusement  at  some  comical  songs  which  our 
young  people  used  to  sing,  developing  a  sense  of 
humor  which  a  superficial  observer  would  hardly 
have  discovered,  but  which  you  and  I  know  he  pos 
sessed  in  a  marked  degree. 

Yours  always, 

J.  M.  FORBES. 

Professor  James  B.  Thayer's  little  book,  "  A 
Western  Journey  with  Mr.  Emerson,"  is  a  very 
entertaining  account  of  the  same  trip  concerning 
which  Mr.  Forbes  wrote  the  letter  just  given. 
Professor  Thayer  kindly  read  many  of  his  notes 
to  me  before  his  account  was  published,  and  al 
lows  me  to  make  such  use  of  the  book  as  I  see 
fit.  Such  liberty  must  not  be  abused,  and  I  will 
content  myself  with  a  few  passages  in  which 
Emerson  has  a  part.  No  extract  will  interest 
the  reader  more  than  the  following :  — 

"  '  How  can  Mr.  Emerson,'  said  one  of  the  younger 


266  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

members  of  the  party  to  me  that  day,  '  he  so  agree 
able,  all  the  time,  without  getting  tired  ! '  It  was 
the  naive  expression  of  what  we  all  had  felt.  There 
was  never  a  more  agreeable  travelling  companion  ; 
he  was  always  accessible,  cheerful,  sympathetic,  con 
siderate,  tolerant ;  and  there  was  always  that  same 
respectful  interest  in  those  with  whom  he  talked,  even 
the  humblest,  which  raised  them  in  their  own  estima 
tion.  One  thing  particularly  impressed  me,  —  the 
sense  that  he  seemed  to  have  of  a  certain  great  am 
plitude  of  time  and  leisure.  It  was  the  behavior  of 
one  who  really  believed  in  an  immortal  life,  and  had 
adjusted  his  conduct  accordingly ;  so  that,  beautiful 
and  grand  as  the  natural  objects  were,  among  which 
our  journey  lay,  they  were  matched  by  the  sweet  ele 
vation  of  character,  and  the  spiritual  charm  of  our 
gracious  friend.  Years  afterwards,  on  that  memo 
rable  day  of  his  funeral  at  Concord,  I  found  that  a 
sentence  from  his  own  Essay  on  Immortality  haunted 
my  mind,  and  kept  repeating  itself  all  the  day  long  ; 
it  seemed  to  point  to  the  sources  of  his  power:  'Mean 
time  the  true  disciples  saw  through  the  letter  the  doc 
trine  of  eternity,  which  dissolved  the  poor  corpse, 
and  Nature  also,  and  gave  grandeur  to  the  passing 
hour.' " 

This  extract  will  be  appropriately  followed  by 
another  alluding  to  the  same  subject. 

"  The  next  evening,  Sunday,  the  twenty-third,  Mr. 
Emerson  read  his  address  on  '  Immortality,'  at  Dr. 
Stebbins's  church.  It  was  the  first  time  that  he  had 


VISIT  TO  CALIFORNIA.  267 

spoken  on  the  Western  coast;  never  did  he  speak 
better.  It  was,  in  the  main,  the  same  noble  Essay 
that  has  since  been  printed. 

"  At  breakfast  the  next  morning  we  had  the  news 
paper,  the  '  Alta  California.'  It  gave  a  meagre  out 
line  of  the  address,  but  praised  it  warmly,  and  closed 
with  the  following  observations  :  '  All  left  the  church 
feeling  that  an  elegant  tribute  had  been  paid  to  the 
creative  genius  of  the  Great  First  Cause,  and  that  a 
masterly  use  of  the  English  language  had  contributed 
to  that  end.'  " 

The  story  used  to  be  told  that  after  the  Rev 
erend  Horace  Holley  had  delivered  a  prayer  on 
some  public  occasion,  Major  Ben.  Russell,  of 
ruddy  face  and  ruffled  shirt  memory,  Editor  of 
"The  Columbian  Centinel,"  spoke  of  it  in  his 
paper  the  next  day  as  "  the  most  eloquent  prayer 
ever  addressed  to  a  Boston  audience." 

The  "Alta  California's"  "elegant  tribute" 
is  not  quite  up  to  this  rhetorical  altitude. 

"  '  The  minister,'  said  he,  '  is  in  no  danger  of  losing 
his  position  ;  he  represents  the  moral  sense  and  the 
humanities.'  He  spoke  of  his  own  reasons  for  leaving 
the  pulpit,  and  added  that  '  some  one  had  lately  come 
to  him  whose  conscience  troubled  him  about  retaining 
the  name  of  Christian ;  he  had  replied  that  he  him 
self  had  no  difficulty  about  it.  When  he  was  called 
a  Platonist,  or  a  Christian,  or  a  Republican,  he  wel 
comed  it.  It  did  not  bind  him  to  what  he  did  not 
like.  What  is  the  use  of  going  about  and  setting  up 
a  flag  of  negation  ? ' ' 


268  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

"I  made  bold  to  ask  him  what  he  had  in  mind  in 
naming  his  recent  course  of  lectures  at  Cambridge, 
'  The  Natural  History  of  the  Intellect.'  This  opened 
a  very  interesting  conversation ;  but,  alas !  I  could 
recall  but  little  of  it,  —  little  more  than  the  mere 
hintings  of  what  he  said.  He  cared  very  little  for 
metaphysics.  But  he  thought  that  as  a  man  grows 
he  observes  certain  facts  about  his  own  mind,  — 
about  memory,  for  example.  These  he  had  set  down 
from  time  to  time.  As  for  making  any  methodical 
history,  he  did  not  undertake  it." 

Emerson  met  Brigham  Young  at  Salt  Lake 
City,  as  has  been  mentioned,  but  neither  seems 
to  have  made  much  impression  upon  the  other. 
Emerson  spoke  of  the  Mormons.  Some  one  had 
said,  "  They  impress  the  common  people,  through 
their  imagination,  by  Bible-names  and  imagery." 
"Yes,"  he  said,  "it  is  an  after-clap  of  Puritan 
ism.  But  one  would  think  that  after  this  Father 
Abraham  could  go  no  further." 

The  charm  of  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson  is  that 
it  not  merely  records  his  admirable  conversation, 
but  also  gives  us  many  of  those  lesser  peculiari 
ties  which  are  as  necessary  to  a  true  biography 
as  lights  and  shades  to  a  portrait  on  canvas. 
We  are  much  obliged  to  Professor  Thayer  there 
fore  for  the  two  following  pleasant  recollections 
which  he  has  been  good-natured  enough  to  pre- 


VISIT  TO   CALIFORNIA.  269 

serve  for  us,  and  with  which  we  will  take  leave 
of  his  agreeable  little  volume  :  — 

"At  breakfast  we  had,  among  other  things,  pie. 
This  article  at  breakfast  was  one  of  Mr.  Emerson's 
weaknesses.  A  pie  stood  before  him  now.  He 
offered  to  help  somebody  from  it,  who  declined ; 
and  then  one  or  two  others,  who  also  declined ;  and 

then  Mr. ;   he  too  declined.     '  But  Mr. !  ' 

Mr.  Emerson  remonstrated,  with  humorous  empha 
sis,  thrusting  the  knife  under  a  piece  of  the  pie,  and 
putting  the  entire  weight  of  his  character  into  his 
manner,  —  '  but  Mr.  ,  what  is  pie  for  ?  ' ' 

A  near  friend  of  mine,  a  lady,  was  once  in  the 
cars  with  Emerson,  and  when  they  stopped  for 
the  refreshment  of  the  passengers  he  was  very 
desirous  of  procuring  something  at  the  station 
for  her  solace.  Presently  he  advanced  upon  her 
with  a  cup  of  tea  in  one  hand  and  a  wedge  of 
pie  in  the  other,  —  such  a  wedge  !  She  could 
hardly  have  been  more  dismayed  if  one  of  Ce 
sar's  cunei,  or  wedges  of  soldiers,  had  made  a 
charge  against  her. 

Yet  let  me  say  here  that  pie,  often  foolishly 
abused,  is  a  good  creature,  at  the  right  time  and 
in  angles  of  thirty  or  forty  degrees.  In  semi 
circles  and  quadrants  it  may  sometimes  prove 
too  much  for  delicate  stomachs.  But  here  was 
Emerson,  a  hopelessly  confirmed  pie-eater,  never, 
so  far  as  I  remember,  complaining  of  dyspepsia; 


270  RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON. 

and  there,  on  the  other  side,  was  Carlyle,  feeding 
largely  on  wholesome  oatmeal,  groaning  with  in 
digestion  all  his  days,  and  living  with  half  his 
self-consciousness  habitually  centred  beneath  his 
diaphragm. 

Like  his  friend  Carlyle  and  like  Tennyson, 
Emerson  had  a  liking  for  a  whiff  of  tobacco- 
smoke  :  — 

"  When  alone,"  he  said,  "  he  rarely  cared  to  finish 
a  whole  cigar.  But  in  company  it  was  singular  to 
see  how  different  it  was.  To  one  who  found  it 
difficult  to  meet  people,  as  he  did,  the  effect  of  a 
cigar  was  agreeable  ;  one  who  is  smoking  may  be  as 
silent  as  he  likes,  and  yet  be  good  company.  And  so 
Hawthorne  used  to  say  that  he  found  it.  On  this 
journey  Mr.  Emerson  generally  smoked  a  single  ci 
gar  after  our  mid-day  dinner,  or  after  tea,  and  occa 
sionally  after  both.  This  was  multiplying,  several 
times  over,  anything  that  was  usual  with  him  at 
home." 

Professor  Thayer  adds  in  a  note  :  — 

"  Like  Milton,  Mr.  Emerson  '  was  extraordinary 
temperate  in  his  Diet,'  and  he  used  even  less  tobacco. 
Milton's  quiet  day  seems  to  have  closed  regularly 
with  a  pipe;  he  'supped,'  we  are  told,  'upon  .  .  . 
some  light  thing;  and  after  a  pipe  of  tobacco  and  a 
glass  of  water  went  to  bed.'  " 

As  Emerson's  name  has  been  connected  with 
that  of  Milton  in  its  nobler  aspects,  it  can  do  no 


BURNING   OF  HIS  HOUSE.  271 

harm  to  contemplate  him,  like  Milton,  indulging 
in  this  semi-philosophical  luxury. 

One  morning  in  July,  1872,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Emerson  woke  to  find  their  room  filled  with 
smoke  and  fire  coming  through  the  floor  of  a 
closet  in  the  room  over  them.  The  alarm  was 
given,  and  the  neighbors  gathered  and  did  their 
best  to  put  out  the  flames,  but  the  upper  part  of 
the  house  was  destroyed,  and  with  it  were  burned 
many  papers  of  value  to  Emerson,  including  his 
father's  sermons.  Emerson  got  wet  and  chilled, 
and  it  seems  too  probable  that  the  shock  hast 
ened  that  gradual  loss  of  memory  which  came 
over  his  declining  years. 

His  kind  neighbors  did  all  they  could  to  save 
his  property  and  relieve  his  temporary  needs. 
A  study  was  made  ready  for  him  in  the  old 
Court  House,  and  the  "Old  Manse,"  which  had 
sheltered  his  grandfather,  and  others  nearest  to 
him,  received  him  once  more  as  its  tenant. 

On  the  15th  of  October  he  spoke  at  a  dinner 
given  in  New  York  in  honor  of  James  Anthony 
Froude,  the  historian,  and  in  the  course  of  this 
same  month  he  set  out  on  his  third  visit  to 
Europe,  accompanied  by  his  daughter  Ellen. 
We  have  little  to  record  of  this  visit,  which  was 
suggested  as  a  relief  and  recreation  while  his 
home  was  being  refitted  for  him.  He  went  to 
Egypt,  but  so  far  as  I  have  learned  the  Sphinx 


272  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

had  no  message  for  him,  and  in  the  state  of 
mind  in  which  he  found  himself  upon  the  mys 
terious  and  dream-compelling  Nile  it  may  be 
suspected  that  the  landscape  with  its  palms  and 
pyramids  was  an  unreal  vision,  —  that,  as  to  his 
Humble-bee, 

"  All  was  picture  as  he  passed." 

But  while  he  was  voyaging  his  friends  had  not 
forgotten  him.  The  sympathy  with  him  in  his 
misfortune  was  general  and  profound.  It  did 
not  confine  itself  to  expressions  of  feeling,  but 
a  spontaneous  movement  organized  itself  almost 
without  effort.  If  any  such  had  been  needed, 
the  attached  friend  whose  name  is  appended  to 
the  Address  to  the  Subscribers  to  the  Fund  for 
rebuilding  Mr.  Emerson's  house  would  have 
been  as  energetic  in  this  new  cause  as  he  had 
been  in  the  matter  of  procuring  the  reprint  of 
"  Sartor  Resartus."  I  have  his  kind  permission 
to  publish  the  whole  correspondence  relating  to 
the  friendly  project  so  happily  carried  out. 

To  the  Subscribers  to  the  Fund  for  the  Rebuilding  of  Mr. 
Emerson's  House,  after  the  Fire  of  July  24,  1872  : 

The  death  of  Mr.  Emerson  has  removed  any  objec 
tion  which  may  have  before  existed  to  the  printing 
of  the  following  correspondence.  I  have  now  caused 
this  to  be  done,  that  each  subscriber  may  have  the 
satisfaction  of  possessing  a  copy  of  the  touching  and 


STORY  OF  ITS  REBUILDING.  273 

affectionate  letters  in  which  he  expressed  his  delight 
in  this,  to  him,  most  unexpected  demonstration  of 
personal  regard  and  attachment,  in  the  offer  to  restore 
for  him  his  ruined  home. 

No  enterprise  of  the  kind  was  ever  more  fortunate 
and  successful  in  its  purpose  and  in  its  results.  The 
prompt  and  cordial  response  to  the  proposed  sub 
scription  was  most  gratifying.  No  contribution  was 
solicited  from  any  one.  The  simple  suggestion  to 
a  few  friends  of  Mr.  Emerson  that  an  opportunity 
was  now  offered  to  be  of  service  to  him  was  all  that 
was  needed.  From  the  first  day  on  which  it  was 
made,  the  day  after  the  fire,  letters  began  to  come  in, 
with  cheques  for  large  and  small  amounts,  so  that 
in  less  than  three  weeks  I  was  enabled  to  send  to 
Judge  Hoar  the  sum  named  in  his  letter  as  received 
by  him  on  the  13th  of  August,  and  presented  by  him 
to  Mr.  Emerson  the  next  morning,  at  the  Old  Manse, 
with  fitting  words. 

Other  subscriptions  were  afterwards  received,  in 
creasing  the  amount  on  my  book  to  eleven  thousand 
six  hundred  and  twenty  dollars.  A  part  of  this  was 
handed  directly  to  the  builder  at  Concord.  The  bal 
ance  was  sent  to  Mr.  Emerson  October  7,  and  ac 
knowledged  by  him  in  his  letter  of  October  8,  1872. 

All  the  friends  of  Mr.  Emerson  who  knew  of  the 
plan  which  was  proposed  to  rebuild  his  house,  seemed 
to  feel  that  it  was  a  privilege  to  be  allowed  to  express 
in  this  way  the  love  and  veneration  with  which  he 
was  regarded,  and  the  deep  debt  of  gratitude  which 
they  owed  to  him,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  a  much 
18 


274  RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON. 

larger  amount  would  have  been  readily  and  gladly 
offered,  if  it  had  been  required,  for  the  object  in 
view. 

Those  who  have  had  the  happiness  to  join  in  this 
friendly  "  conspiracy  "  may  well  take  pleasure  in  the 
thought  that  what  they  have  done  has  had  the  effect 
to  lighten  the  load  of  care  and  anxiety  which  the 
calamity  of  the  fire  brought  with  it  to  Mr.  Emerson, 
and  thus  perhaps  to  prolong  for  some  precious  years 
the  serene  and  noble  life  that  was  so  dear  to  all 
of  us. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  the  friends  who  have  made 
me  the  bearer  of  this  message  of  good-will. 

LE  BARON  RUSSELL. 

BOSTON,  May  8,  1882. 

BOSTON,  August  13,  1872. 
DEAR  MR.  EMERSON  : 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  spontaneous  desire  of 
your  friends,  on  hearing  of  the  burning  of  your  house, 
to  be  allowed  the  pleasure  of  rebuilding  it. 

A  few  of  them  have  united  for  this  object,  and 
now  request  your  acceptance  of  the  amount  which 
I  have  to-day  deposited  to  your  order  at  the  Concord 
Bank,  through  the  kindness  of  our  friend,  Judge 
Hoar.  They  trust  that  you  will  receive  it  as  an  ex 
pression  of  sincere  regard  and  affection  from  friends, 
who  will,  one  and  all,  esteem  it  a  great  privilege  to 
be  permitted  to  assist  in  the  restoration  of  your 
home. 

And  if,  in  their  eagerness  to  participate  in  so  grate 
ful  a  work,  they  may  have  exceeded  the  estimate  of 


STORY  OF  ITS  REBUILDING.  275 

your  architect  as  to  what  is  required  for  that  purpose, 
they  beg  that  you  will  devote  the  remainder  to  such 
other  objects  as  may  he  most  convenient  to  you. 
Very  sincerely  yours, 

LE  BARON  RUSSELL. 

CONCORD,  August  14,  1872. 
DR.  LE  B.  RUSSELL: 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  received  your  letters,  with  the  check 
for  ten  thousand  dollars  inclosed,  from  Mr.  Barrett 
last  evening.  This  morning  I  deposited  it  to  Mr.- 
Emerson's  credit  in  the  Concord  National  Bank,  and 
took  a  bank  book  for  him,  with  his  little  balance 
entered  at  the  top,  and  this  following,  and  carried  it 
to  him  with  your  letter.  I  told  him,  by  way  of  pre 
lude,  that  some  of  his  friends  had  made  him  treasurer 
of  an  association  who  wished  him  to  go  to  England 
and  examine  Warwick  Castle  and  other  noted  houses 
that  had  been  recently  injured  by  fire,  in  order  to  get 
the  best  ideas  possible  for  restoration,  and  then  to 
apply  them  to  a  house  which  the  association  was 
formed  to  restore  in  this  neighborhood. 

When  he  understood  the  thing  and  had  read  your 
letter,  he  seemed  very  deeply  moved.  He  said  that 
he  had  been  allowed  so  far  in  life  to  stand  on  his 
own  feet,  and  that  he  hardly  knew  what  to  say,  — 
that  the  kindness  of  his  friends  was  very  great.  I 
said  what  I  thought  was  best  in  reply,  and  told  him 
that  this  was  the  spontaneous  act  of  friends,  who 
wished  the  privilege  of  expressing  in  this  way  their 
respect  and  affection,  and  was  done  only  by  those 


276  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

who  thought  it  a  privilege  to  do  so.  I  mentioned 
Hillard  as  you  desired,  and  also  Mrs.  Tappan,  who,  it 
seems,  had  written  to  him  and  offered  any  assistance 
he  might  need,  to  the  extent  of  five  thousand  dollars, 
personally. 

I  think  it  is  all  right,  but  he  said  he  must  see  the 
list  of  contributors,  and  would  then  say  what  he  had 
to  say  about  it.  He  told  me  that  Mr.  F.  C.  Lowell, 
who  was  his  classmate  and  old  friend,  Mr.  Bangs, 
Mrs.  Gurney,  and  a  few  other  friends,  had  already 
sent  him  five  thousand  dollars,  which  he  seemed  to 
think  was  as  much  as  he  could  bear.  This  makes 
the  whole  a  very  gratifying  result,  and  perhaps  ex 
plains  the  absence  of  some  names  on  your  book. 

I  am  glad  that  Mr.  Emerson,  who  is  feeble  and  ill, 
can  learn  what  a  debt  of  obligation  his  friends  feel  to 
him,  and  thank  you  heartily  for  what  you  have  done 
about  it.  Very  truly  yours, 

E.  R.  HOAK. 

CONCORD,  August  16,  1872. 

My  DEAR  LE  BARON  : 

I  have  wondered  and  melted  over  your  letter  and 
its  accompaniments  till  it  is  high  time  that  I  should 
reply  to  it,  if  I  can.  My  misfortunes,  as  I  have  lived 
along  so  far  in  this  world,  have  been  so  few  that  I 
have  never  needed  to  ask  direct  aid  of  the  host  of 
good  men  and  women  who  have  cheered  my  life, 
though  many  a  gift  has  come  to  me.  And  this  late 
calamity,  however  rude  and  devastating,  soon  began 
to  look  more  wonderful  in  its  salvages  than  in  its 
ruins,  so  that  I  can  hardly  feel  any  right  to  this 


STORY  OF  ITS  REBUILDING.  277 

munificent  endowment  with  which  you,  and  my  other 
friends  through  you,  have  astonished  me.  But  I 
cannot  read  your  letter  or  think  of  its  message  with 
out  delight,  that  my  companions  and  friends  bear  me 
so  noble  a  good-will,  nor  without  some  new  aspirations 
in  the  old  heart  toward  a  better  deserving.  Judge 
Hoar  has,  up  to  this  time,  withheld  from  me  the 
names  of  my  benefactors,  but  you  may  be  sure  that  I 
shall  not  rest  till  I  have  learned  them,  every  one,  to 
repeat  to  myself  at  night  and  at  morning. 

Your  affectionate  friend  and  debtor, 

R.  W.  EMERSOX. 
DR.  LE  BARON  RUSSELL 

CONCORD,  October  8,  1872. 
MY  DEAK  DOCTOR  LE  BAROX  : 

I  received  last  night  your  two  notes,  and  the 
cheque,  enclosed  in  one  of  them,  for  one  thousand 
and  twenty  dollars. 

Are  my  friends  bent  on  killing  me  with  kindness  ? 
No,  you  will  say,  but  to  make  me  live  longer.  I 
thought  myself  sufficiently  loaded  with  benefits  al 
ready,  and  you  add  more  and  more.  It  appears  that 
you  all  will  rebuild  my  house  and  rejuvenate  me  by 
sending  me  in  my  old  days  abroad  on  a  young  man's 
excursion. 

I  am  a  lover  of  men,  but  this  recent  wonderful 
experience  of  their  tenderness  surprises  and  occupies 
my  thoughts  day  by  day.  Now  that  I  have  all  or 
almost  all  the  names  of  the  men  and  women  who 
have  conspired  in  this  kindness  to  me  (some  of  whom 
I  have  never  personally  known),  I  please  myself  with 


278  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

the  thought  of  meeting  each  and  asking,  Why  have 
we  not  met  before  ?  Why  have  you  not  told  me  that 
we  thought  alike  ?  Life  is  not  so  long,  nor  sympathy 
of  thought  so  common,  that  we  can  spare  the  so 
ciety  of  those  with  whom  we  best  agree.  Well,  't  is 
probably  my  own  fault  by  sticking  ever  to  my  soli 
tude.  Perhaps  it  is  not  too  late  to  learn  of  these 
friends  a  better  lesson. 

Thank  them  for  me  whenever  you  meet  them,  and 
say  to  them  that  I  am  not  wood  or  stone,  if  I  have 
not  yet  trusted  myself  so  far  as  to  go  to  each  one  of 
them  directly. 

My  wife  insists  that  I  shall  also  send  her  acknowl 
edgments  to  them  and  you. 

Yours  and  theirs  affectionately, 

R.  W.  EMERSON. 
DK.  LE  BAKON  RUSSELL. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  subscrib 
ers  to  the  fund  for  rebuilding  Mr.  Emerson's 
house : — 

Mrs.  Anne  S.  Hooper.  Friends  in  New  York  and 
Miss  Alice  S.  Hooper.  Philadelphia,  through  Mr. 

Mrs.  Caroline  Tappan.  Williams. 

Miss  Ellen  S.  Tappan.  Mr.  William  Whiting. 

Miss  Mary  A.  Tappaa.  Mr.  Frederick  Beck. 

Mr.  T.  G.  Appleton.  Mr.  H.  P.  Kidder. 

Mrs.  Henry  Edwards.  Mrs.  Abel  Adams. 

Miss  Susan  E.  Dorr.  Mrs.  George  Faulkner. 

Misses  Wigglesworth.  Hon.  E.  R.  Hoar. 
Mr.  Edward  Wigglesworth.    Mr.  James  B.  Thayer. 

Mr.  J.  Elliot  Cabot.  Mr.  John  M.  Forbes. 

Mrs.  Sarah  S.  Russell.  Mr.  James  H.  Beal. 


RECEPTION  AT  CONCORD.  279 

Mrs.  Anna  C.  Lodge.  Mr.  T.  Jefferson  Coolidge. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Hunnewell.  Mrs.  S.  Cabot. 

Mr.  James  A.  Dupee.  Mrs.  Anna  C.  Lowell. 

Mrs.  M.  F.  Sayles.  Miss  Helen  L.  Appleton. 

J.  R.  Osgood  &  Co.  Mr.  Richard  Soule. 

Mr.  Francis  Geo.  Shaw.  Dr.  R.  W.  Hooper. 

Mr.  William  P.  Mason.  Mr.  William  Gray. 

Mr.  Sam'l  G.  Ward.  Mr.  J.  I.  Bowditch. 

Mr.  Geo.  C.  Ward.  Mrs.  Lucia  J.  Briggs. 

Mr.  John  E.  Williams.  Dr.  Le  Baron  Russell. 

In  May,  1873,  Emerson  returned  to  Concord. 
His  friends  and  fellow-citizens  received  him  with 
every  token  of  affection  and  reverence.  A  set 
of  signals  was  arranged  to  announce  his  arrival. 
Carriages  were  in  readiness  for  him  and  his  fam 
ily,  a  band  greeted  him  with  music,  and  passing 
under  a  triumphal  arch,  he  was  driven  to  his 
renewed  old  home  amidst  the  welcomes  and  the 
blessings  of  his  loving  and  admiring  friends  and 
neighbors. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1873-1878.    JET.  70-75. 

Publication  of  "Parnassus."  —  Emerson  Nominated  as  Candi 
date  for  the  Office  of  Lord  Rector  of  Glasgow  University.  — 
Publication  of  "  Letters  and  Social  Aims."  Contents  : 
Poetry  and  Imagination.  —  Social  Aims.  —  Eloquence.  — 
Resources.  —  The  Comic.  —  Quotation  and  Originality.  — 
Progress  of  Culture.  —  Persian  Poetry.  —  Inspiration.  — 
Greatness.  —  Immortality.  —  Address  at  the  Unveiling  of 
the  Statue  of  "  The  Minute-Man  "  at  Concord. — Publication 
of  Collected  Poems. 

IN  December,  1874,  Emerson  published  "  Par 
nassus,"  a  Collection  of  Poems  by  British  and 
American  authors.  Many  readers  may  like  to  see 
his  subdivisions  and  arrangement  of  the  pieces 
he  has  brought  together.  They  are  as  follows  : 
"  Nature."  —  "  Human  Life."  —  "  Intellectual." 

—  "  Contemplation."  —  "  Moral  and  Religious." 

—  "  Heroic."  —  "  Personal."  —  "  Pictures."  — 
"Narrative  Poems  and  Ballads."  —  "Songs."  — 
"  Dirges  and  Pathetic  Poems."  —  "  Comic  and 
Humorous."  —  "  Poetry  of  Terror."  —  "  Oracles 
and  Counsels." 

I  have  borrowed  so  sparingly  from  the  rich 
mine  of  Mr.  George  Willis  Cooke's  "  Ralph 


"PAKNASSUS."  281 

Waldo  Emerson,  His  Life,  Writings,  and  Philos 
ophy,"  that  I  am  pleased  to  pay  him  the  respect 
ful  tribute  of  taking  a  leaf  from  his  excellent 
work. 

"  This  collection,"  he  says, 

"  was  the  result  of  his  habit,  pursued  for  many  years, 
of  copying  into  his  commonplace  book  any  poem 
which  specially  pleased  him.  Many  of  these  favorites 
had  been  read  to  illustrate  his  lectures  on  the  English 
poets.  The  book  has  no  worthless  selections,  almost 
everything  it  contains  bearing  the  stamp  of  genius 
and  worth.  Yet  Emerson's  personality  is  seen  in  its 
many  intellectual  and  serious  poems,  and  in  the  small 
number  of  its  purely  religious  selections.  With  two 
or  three  exceptions  he  copies  none  of  those  devotional 
poems  which  have  attracted  devout  souls.  —  His  poet 
ical  sympathies  are  shown  in  the  fact  that  one  third 
of  the  selections  are  from  the  seventeenth  century. 
Shakespeare  is  drawn  on  more  largely  than  any  other, 
no  less  than  eighty-eight  selections  being  made  from 
him.  The  names  of  George  Herbert,  Herrick,  Ben 
Jonson,  and  Milton  frequently  appear.  Wordsworth 
appears  forty-three  times,  and  stands  next  to  Shake 
speare  ;  while  Burns,  Byron,  Scott,  Tennyson,  and 
Chaucer  make  up  the  list  of  favorites.  Many  little 
known  pieces  are  included,  and  some  whose  merit  is 
other  than  poetical.  —  This  selection  of  poems  is  emi 
nently  that  of  a  poet  of  keen  intellectual  tastes.  It 
is  not  popular  in  character,  omitting  many  public 
favorites,  and  introducing  very  much  which  can  never 


282  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

be  acceptable  to  the  general  reader.  The  Preface  is 
full  of  interest  for  its  comments  on  many  of  the 
poems  and  poets  appearing  in  these  selections." 

I  will  only  add  to  Mr.  Cooke's  criticism  these 
two  remarks :  First,  that  I  have  found  it  impos 
sible  to  know  under  which  of  his  divisions  to 
look  for  many  of  the  poems  I  was  in  search  of ; 
and  as,  in  the  earlier  copies  at  least,  there  was 
no  paged  index  where  each  author's  pieces  were 
collected  together,  one  had  to  hunt  up  his  frag 
ments  with  no  little  loss  of  time  and  patience, 
under  various  heads,  "  imitating  the  careful 
search  that  Isis  made  for  the  mangled  bcdy  of 
Osiris."  The  other  remark  is  that  each  one  of 
Emerson's  American  fellow-poets  from  whom  he 
has  quoted  would  gladly  have  spared  almost  any 
of  the  extracts  from  the  poems  of  his  brother- 
bards,  if  the  editor  would  only  have  favored  us 
with  some  specimens  of  his  own  poetry,  with  a  sin 
gle  line  of  which  .he  has  not  seen  fit  to  indulge  us. 

In  1874  Emerson  received  the  nomination 
by  the  independent  party  among  the  students  of 
Glasgow  University  for  the  office  of  Lord  Rector. 
He  received  five  hundred  votes  against  seven 
hundred  for  Disraeli,  who  was  elected.  He  says 
in  a  letter  to  Dr.  J.  Hutchinson  Sterling :  — 

"  I  count  that  vote  as  quite  the  fairest  laurel  that 
has  ever  fallen  on  me  ;  and  I  cannot  but  feel  deeply 


"LETTERS  AND  SOCIAL  AIMS."  283 

grateful  to  my  young  friends  in  the  University,  and 
to  yourself,  who  have  been  my  counsellor  and  my  too 
partial  advocate." 

Mr.  Cabot  informs  us  in  his  Prefatory  Note 
to  "  Letters  and  Social  Aims,"  that  the  proof 
sheets  of  this  volume,  now  forming  the  eighth 
of  the  collected  works,  showed  even  before  the 
burning  of  his  house  and  the  illness  which  fol 
lowed  from  the  shock,  that  his  loss  of  memory 
and  of  mental  grasp  was  such  as  to  make  it 
unlikely  that  he  would  in  any  case  have  been 
able  to  accomplish  what  he  had  undertaken. 
Sentences,  even  whole  pages,  were  repeated,  and 
there  was  a  want  of  order  beyond  what  even  he 
would  have  tolerated  :  — 

"  There  is  nothing  here  that  he  did  not  write,  and 
he  gave  his  full  approval  to  whatever  was  done  in 
the  way  of  selection  and  arrangement;  but  I  cannot 
say  that  he  applied  his  mind  very  closely  to  the 
matter." 

This  volume  contains  eleven  Essays,  the  sub 
jects  of  which,  as  just  enumerated,  are  very  va 
rious.  The  longest  and  most  elaborate  paper 
is  that  entitled  "Poetry  and  Imagination."  I 
have  room  for  little  more  than  the  enumeration 
of  the  different  headings  of  this  long  Essay.  By 
these  it  will  be  seen  how  wide  a  ground  it  covers. 
They  are  "Introductory;"  "Poetry;"  "Imag- 


284  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

ination ;  "  "  Veracity ;  "  "  Creation  ;  "  "  Melody, 
Rhythm,  Form  ;  "  "  Bards  and  Trouveurs  ; " 
"  Morals ; "  "  Transcendency."  Many  thoughts 
with  which  we  are  familiar  are  reproduced, 
expanded,  and  illustrated  in  this  Essay.  Unity 
in  multiplicity,  the  symbolism  of  nature,  and 
others  of  his  leading  ideas  appear  in  new  phrases, 
not  unwelcome,  for  they  look  fresh  in  every  re 
statement.  It  would  be  easy  to  select  a  score 
of  pointed  sayings,  striking  images,  large  gener 
alizations.  Some  of  these  we  find  repeated  in 
his  verse.  Thus  :  — 

"  Michael  Angelo  is  largely  filled  with  the  Creator 
that  made  and  makes  men.  How  much  of  the  original 
craft  remains  in  him,  and  he  a  mortal  man!  " 

And  so  in  the  well  remembered  lines  of  "  The 
Problem  " :  — 

"  Himself  from  God  he  could  not  free." 

"  He  knows  that  he  did  not  make  his  thought,  — 
no,  his  thought  made  him,  and  made  the  sun  and 
stars." 

"  Art  might  obey  but  not  surpass. 
The  passive  Master  lent  his  hand 
To  the  vast  soul  that  o'er  him  planned." 

Hope  is  at  the  bottom  of  every  Essay  of 
Emerson's  as  it  was  at  the  bottom  of  Pandora's 
box  :  — 

"  I  never  doubt  the  riches  of  nature,  the  gifts  of 


"ELOQUENCE."  285 

the  future,  the  immense  wealth  of  the  mind.  0  yes, 
poets  we  shall  have,  mythology,  symbols,  religion  of 
our  own. 

—  "  Sooner  or  later  that  which  is  now  life  shall  be 
poetry,  and  every  fair  and  manly  trait  shall  add  a 
richer  strain  to  the  song." 

Under  the  title  "  Social  Aims  "  he  gives  some 
wise  counsel  concerning  manners  and  conversa 
tion.  One  of  these  precepts  will  serve  as  a 
specimen  —  if  we  have  met  with  it  before  it  is 
none  the  worse  for  wear  :  — 

"  Shun  the  negative  side.  Never  worry  people  with 
your  contritions,  nor  with  dismal  views  of  politics  or 
society.  Never  name  sickness ;  even  if  you  could 
trust  yourself  on  that  perilous  topic,  beware  of  un 
muzzling  a  valetudinarian,  who  will  give  you  enough 
of  it." 

We  have  had  one  Essay  on  "  Eloquence  "  al 
ready.  One  extract  from  this  new  discourse  on 
the  same  subject  must  serve  our  turn :  — 

"  These  are  ascending  stairs,  —  a  good  voice,  win 
ning  manners,  plain  speech,  chastened,  however,  by 
the  schools  into  correctness  ;  but  we  must  come  to  the 
main  matter,  of  power  of  statement,  —  know  your 
fact ;  hug  your  fact.  For  the  essential  thing  is  heat, 
and  heat  comes  of  sincerity.  Speak  what  you  know 
and  believe ;  and  are  personally  in  it ;  and  are  an 
swerable  for  every  word.  Eloquence  is  the  power  to 


286  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

translate  a  truth  into  language  perfectly  intelligible 
to  the  person  to  whom  you  speak" 

The  italics  are  Emerson's. 

If  our  learned  and  excellent  John  Cotton  used 
to  sweeten  his  mouth  before  going  to  bed  with 
a  bit  of  Calvin,  we  may  as  wisely  sweeten  and 
strengthen  our  sense  of  existence  with  a  morsel  or 
two  from  Emerson's  Essay  on  "  Resources  "  :  — 

"  A  Schopenhauer,  with  logic  and  learning  and  wit, 
teaching  pessimism,  —  teaching  that  this  is  the  worst 
of  all  possible  worlds,  and  inferring  that  sleep  is  bet- 
ter  than  waking,  and  death  than  sleep,  —  all  the  tal 
ent  in  the  world  cannot  save  him  from  being  odious. 
But  if  instead  of  these  negatives  you  give  me  affirma 
tives  ;  if  you  tell  me  that  there  is  always  life  for  the 
living ;  that  what  man  has  done  man  can  do ;  that 
this  world  belongs  to  the  energetic  ;  that  there  is  al 
ways  a  way  to  everything  desirable  ;  that  every  man 
is  provided,  in  the  new  bias  of  his  faculty,  with  a  key 
to  nature,  and  that  man  only  rightly  knows  himself 
as  far  as  he  has  experimented  on  things,  —  I  am  in 
vigorated,  put  into  genial  and  working  temper ;  the 
horizon  opens,  and  we  are  full  of  good-will  and  grati 
tude  to  the  Cause  of  Causes." 

The  Essay  or  Lecture  on  "  The  Comic  "  may 
have  formed  a  part  of  a  series  he  had  contem 
plated  on  the  intellectual  processes.  Two  or  three 
sayings  in  it  will  show  his  view  sufficiently :  — 

"  The  essence  of  all  jokes,  of  all  comedy,  seems  to 


"  QUOTATION  AND  ORIGINALITY."          287 

be  an  honest  or  well-intended  halfness ;  a  non-per 
formance  of  what  is  pretended  to  be  performed,  at 
the  same  time  that  one  is  giving  loud  pledges  of 
performance. 

"  If  the  essence  of  the  Comic  be  the  contrast  in  the 
intellect  between  the  idea  and  the  false  performance, 
there  is  good  reason  why  we  should  be  affected  by  the 
exposure.  We  have  no  deeper  interest  than  our  in 
tegrity,  and  that  we  should  be  made  aware  by  joke 
and  by  stroke  of  any  lie  we  entertain.  Besides,  a 
perception  of  the  comic  seems  to  be  a  balance-wheel 
in  our  metaphysical  structure.  It  appears  to  be  an 
essential  element  in  a  fine  character.  —  A  rogue  alive 
to  the  ludicrous  is  still  convertible.  If  that  sense  is 
lost,  his  fellow-men  can  do  little  for  him." 

These  and  other  sayings  of  like  purport  are 
illustrated  by  well-preserved  stories  and  anec 
dotes  not  for  the  most  part  of  very  recent  date. 

"Quotation  and  Originality"  furnishes  the 
key  to  Emerson's  workshop.  He  believed  in 
quotation,  and  borrowed  from  everybody  and 
every  book.  Not  in  any  stealthy  or  shame-faced 
way,  but  proudly,  royally,  as  a  king  borrows  from 
one  of  his  attendants  the  coin  that  bears  his  own 
image  and  superscription. 

"  All  minds  quote.  Old  and  new  make  the  warp 
and  woof  of  every  moment.  There  is  no  thread  that 
is  not  a  twist  of  these  two  strands.  —  We  quote  not 


288  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

only  books  and  proverbs,  but  arts,  sciences,  religion, 
customs,  and  laws ;  nay,  we  quote  temples  and  houses, 
tables  and  chairs  by  imitation.  — 

"  The  borrowing  is  often  honest  enough  and  conies 
of  magnanimity  and  stoutness.  A  great  man  quotes 
bravely,  and  will  not  draw  on  his  invention  when  his 
memory  serves  him  with  a  word  as  good. 

"  Next  to  the  originator  of  a  good  sentence  is  the 
first  quoter  of  it."  — 

—  "  The  Progress  of  Culture,"  his  second  Phi 
Beta   Kappa  oration,    has   already   been   men 
tioned. 

—  The  lesson  of  self  -  reliance,  which  he  is 
never  tired  of  inculcating,  is  repeated  and  en 
forced  in  the  Essay  on  "  Greatness." 

"There  are  certain  points  of  identity  in  which 
these  masters  agree.  Self-respect  is  the  early  form  in 
which  greatness  appears.  —  Stick  to  your  own  ;  don't 
inculpate  yourself  in  the  local,  social,  or  national 
crime,  but  follow  the  path  your  genius  traces  like  the 
galaxy  of  heaven  for  you  to  walk  in. 

"  Every  mind  has  a  new  compass,  a  new  direction 
of  its  own,  differencing  its  genius  and  aim  from  every 
other  mind.  —  We  call  this  specialty  the  bias  of  each 
individual.  And  none  of  us  will  ever  accomplish  any 
thing  excellent  or  commanding  except  when  he  listens 
to  this  whisper  which  is  heard  by  him  alone." 

If  to  follow  this  native  bias  is  the  first  rule, 
the  second  is  concentration.  —  To  the  bias  of  the 


"  INSPIRATION."  289 

individual  mind  must  be  added  the  most  catholic 
receptivity  for  the  genius  of  others. 

"  Shall  I  tell  you  the  secret  of  the  true  scholar  ? 
It  is  this  :  Every  man  I  meet  is  my  master  in  somo 
point,  and  in  that  I  learn  of  him."  — 

"  The  man  whom  we  have  not  seen,  in  whom  no 
regard  of  self  degraded  the  adorer  of  the  laws,  — 
who  hy  governing  himself  governed  others  ;  sportive 
in  manner,  but  inexorable  in  act ;  who  sees  longevity 
in  his  cause ;  whose  aim  is  always  distinct  to  him ; 
who  is  suffered  to  be  himself  in  society ;  who  carries 
fate  in  his  eye  ;  —  ho  it  is  whom  we  seek,  encouraged 
in  every  good  hour  that  here  or  hereafter  he  shall  be 
found." 

What  has  Emerson  to  tell  us  of  "  Inspira 
tion?" 

"I  believe  that  nothing  great  or  lasting  can  be 
done  except  by  inspiration,  by  leaning  on  the  secret 
augury.  — 

"  How  many  sources  of  inspiration  can  we  count  ? 
As  many  as  our  affinities.  But  to  a  practical  purpose 
we  may  reckon  a  few  of  these." 

I  will  enumerate  them  briefly  as  he  gives 
them,  but  not  attempting  to  reproduce  his  com 
ments  on  each :  — 

1.  Health.  2.  The  experience  of  writing  let 
ters.  3.  The  renewed  sensibility  which  comes 
after  seasons  of  decay  or  eclipse  of  the  faculties. 

19 


290  KALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

4.  The  power  of  the  will.  5.  Atmospheric 
causes,  especially  the  influence  of  morning.  6. 
Solitary  converse  with  nature.  7.  Solitude  of 
itself,  like  that  of  a  country  inn  in  summer,  and 
of  a  city  hotel  in  winter.  8.  Conversation.  9. 
New  poetry ;  by  which,  he  says,  he  means  chiefly 
old  poetry  that  is  new  to  the  reader. 

"  Every  book  is  good  to  read  which  sets  the  reader 
in  a  working  mood." 

What  can  promise  more  than  an  Essay  by 
Emerson  on  "  Immortality  "  ?  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  many  readers  will  transfer  this  note  of  in 
terrogation  to  the  Essay  itself.  What  is  the 
definite  belief  of  Emerson  as  expressed  in  this 
discourse,  —  what  does  it  mean  ?  We  must  tack 
together  such  sentences  as  we  can  find  that  will 
stand  for  an  answer :  — 

"  I  think  all  sound  minds  rest  on  a  certain  prelimi 
nary  conviction,  namely,  that  if  it  be  best  that  con 
scious  personal  life  shall  continue,  it  will  continue ; 
if  not  best,  then  it  will  not ;  and  we,  if  we  saw  the 
whole,  should  of  course  see  that  it  was  better  so." 

This  is  laying  the  table  for  a  Barmecide  feast 
of  nonentity,  with  the  possibility  of  a  real  ban 
quet  to  be  provided  for  us.  But  he  continues  :  — 

"  Schiller  said,  '  What  is  so  universal  as  death 
must  be  benefit.'  " 

He  tells  us  what  Michael  Angelo  said,  how 


"IMMORTALITY."  291 

Plutarch  felt,  how  Montesquieu  thought  about 
the  question,  and  then  glances  off  from  it  to  the 
terror  of  the  child  at  the  thought  of  life  without 
end,  to  the  story  of  the  two  skeptical  statesmen 
whose  unsatisfied  inquiry  through  a  long  course 
of  years  he  holds  to  be  a  better  affirmative  evi 
dence  than  their  failure  to  find  a  confirmation 
was  negative.  He  argues  from  our  delight  in 
permanence,  from  the  delicate  contrivances  and 
adjustments  of  created  things,  that  the  contriver 
cannot  be  forever  hidden,  and  says  at  last 
plainly  :  — 

"  Everything  is  prospective,  and  man  is  to  live 
hereafter.  That  the  world  is  for  his  education  is  the 
only  sane  solution  of  the  enigma." 

But  turn  over  a  few  pages  and  we  may 
read :  — 

"  I  confess  that  everything  connected  with  our 
personality  fails.  Nature  never  spares  the  individual ; 
we  are  always  balked  of  a  complete  success  ;  no  pros 
perity  is  promised  to  our  self-esteem.  We  have  our 
indemnity  only  in  the  moral  and  intellectual  reality 
to  which  we  aspire.  That  is  immortal,  and  we  only 
through  that.  The  soul  stipulates  for  no  private  good. 
That  which  is  private  I  see  not  to  be  good.  '  If  truth 
live,  I  live ;  if  justice  live,  I  live,'  said  one  of  the  old 
saints,  •'  and  these  by  any  man's  suffering  are  enlarged 
and  enthroned.' " 

Once  more  we  get  a  dissolving  view  of  Emer- 


292  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

son's  creed,  if  such  a  word  applies  to  a  state 
ment  like  the  following :  — 

—  "I  mean  that  I  am  a  better  believer,  and  all 
serious  souls  are  better  believers  in  the  immortality 
than  we  can  give  grounds  for.  The  real  evidence  is 
too  subtle,  or  is  higher  than  we  can  write  down  in 
propositions,  and  therefore  Wordsworth's  '  Ode '  is  the 
best  modern  essay  on  the  subject." 

Wordsworth's  "  Ode  "  is  a  noble  and  beauti 
ful  dream ;  is  it  anything  more  ?  The  reader 
who  would  finish  this  Essay,  which  I  suspect  to 
belong  to  an  early  period  of  Emerson's  develop 
ment,  must  be  prepared  to  plunge  into  mysticism 
and  lose  himself  at  last  in  an  Oriental  apologue. 
The  eschatology  which  rests  upon  an  English 
poem  and  an  Indian  fable  belongs  to  the  realm 
of  reverie  and  of  imagination  rather  than  the 
domain  of  reason. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1875,  the  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  "Fight  at  the  Bridge,"  Em 
erson  delivered  a  short  Address  at  the  unveiling: 

o 

of  the  statue  of  "  The  Minute-Man,"  erected  at 
the  place  of  the  conflict,  to  commemorate  the 
event.  This  is  the  last  Address  he  ever  wrote, 
though  he  delivered  one  or  more  after  this  date. 
From  the  manuscript  which  lies  before  me  I 
extract  a  single  passage :  — 

"  In  the  year   1775  we  had  many  enemies  and 


"POEMS."  293 

many  friends  in  England,  but  our  one  benefactor  was 
King  George  the  Third.  The  time  had  arrived  for 
the  political  severance  of  America,  that  it  might  play 
its  part  in  the  history  of  this  globe,  and  the  inscru 
table  divine  Providence  gave  an  insane  king  to  Eng 
land.  In  the  resistance  of  the  Colonies,  he  alone 
was  immovable  on  the  question  of  force.  England 
was  so  dear  to  us  that  the  Colonies  could  only  be 
absolutely  disunited  by  violence  from  England,  and 
only  one  man  could  compel  the  resort  to  violence. 
Parliament  wavered,  Lord  North  wavered,  all  the 
ministers  wavered,  but  the  king  had  the  insanity  of 
one  idea ;  he  was  immovable,  he  insisted  on  the  im 
possible,  so  the  army  was  sent,  America  was  instantly 
united,  and  the  Nation  born." 

There  is  certainly  no  mark  of  mental  failure 
in  this  paragraph,  written  at  a  period  when  he 
had  long  ceased  almost  entirely  from  Ms  literary 
labors. 

Emerson's  collected  "  Poems  "  constitute  the 
ninth  volume  of  the  recent  collected  edition  of 
his  works.  They  will  be  considered  in  a  fol 
lowing  chapter. 


CHAPTEK  XIII. 

1878-1882.     ^Er.  75-79. 

Last  Literary  Labors.  —  Addresses  and  Essays.  —  "Lectures 
and  Biographical  Sketches."  —  "  Miscellanies." 

THE  decline  of  Emerson's  working  faculties 
went  on  gently  and  gradually,  but  he  was  not 
condemned  to  entire  inactivity.  His  faithful 
daughter,  Ellen,  followed  him  with  assiduous, 
quiet,  ever  watchful  care,  aiding  his  failing  mem 
ory,  bringing  order  into  the  chaos  of  his  manu 
script,  an  echo  before  the  voice  whose  words  it 
was  to  shape  for  him  when  his  mind  faltered 
and  needed  a  momentary  impulse. 

With  her  helpful  presence  and  support  he 
ventured  from  time  to  time  to  read  a  paper  be 
fore  a  select  audience.  Thus,  March  30,  1878, 
he  delivered  a  Lecture  in  the  Old  South  Church, 
—  "  Fortune  of  the  Republic."  On  the  5th  of 
May,  1879,  he  read  a  Lecture  in  the  Chapel  of 
Divinity  College,  Harvard  University,  —  "  The 
Preacher."  In  1881  he  read  a  paper  on  Carlyle 
before  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. — 
He  also  published  a  paper  in  the  "North  Amer- 


LAST  LITERARY  LABORS.  295 

ican  Review,"  in  1878,  —  "  The  Sovereignty  of 
Ethics,"  and  one  on  "  Superlatives,"  in  "  The 
Century"  for  February,  1882. 

But  in  these  years  he  was  writing  little  OP 
nothing.  All  these  papers  were  taken  from 
among  his  manuscripts  of  different  dates.  The 
same  thing  is  true  of  the  volumes  published 
since  his  death ;  they  were  only  compilations 
from  his  stores  of  unpublished  matter,  and  their 
arrangement  was  the  work  of  Mr.  Emerson's 
friend  and  literary  executor,  Mr.  Cabot.  These 
volumes  cannot  be  considered  as  belonging  to 
any  single  period  of  his  literary  life. 

Mr.  Cabot  prefixes  to  the  tenth  volume  of 
Emerson's  collected  works,  which  bears  the  title, 
"  Lectures  and  Biographical  Sketches,"  the  fol 
lowing  :  — 

"NOTE. 

"  Of  the  pieces  included  in  this  volume  the  fol 
lowing,  namely,  those  from  '  The  Dial,'  '  Character,' 
'  Plutarch,'  and  the  biographical  sketches  of  Dr. 
Ripley,  of  Mr.  Hoar,  and  of  Henry  Thoreau,  were 
printed  by  Mr.  Emerson  before  I  took  any  part  in 
the  arrangement  of  his  papers.  The  rest,  except  the 
sketch  of  Miss  Mary  Emerson,  I  got  ready  for  his 
use  in  readings  to  his  friends,  or  to  a  limited  public. 
He  had  given  up  the  regular  practice  of  lecturing, 
but  would  sometimes,  upon  special  request,  read  a 
paper  that  had  been  prepared  for  him  from  his  manu 
scripts,  in  the  manner  described  in  the  Preface  to 


296  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

'  Letters  and  Social  Aims,'  —  some  former  lecture 
serving  as  a  nucleus  for  the  new.  Some  of  these 
papers  he  afterwards  allowed  to  be  printed ;  others, 
namely,  '  Aristocracy,'  '  Education,'  '  The  Man  of  Let 
ters,'  'The  Scholar,'  'Historic  Notes  of  Life  and 
Letters  in  New  England,'  'Mary  Moody  Emerson,' 
are  now  published  for  the  first  time." 

Some  of  these  papers  I  have  already  had  oc 
casion  to  refer  to.  From  several  of  the  others 
I  will  make  one  or  two  extracts,  —  a  difficult 
task,  so  closely  are  the  thoughts  packed  together. 

From  "  Demonology  "  :  — 

"  I  say  to  the  table-rappers 

'  I  will  believe 

Thou  wilt  not  utter  what  thou  dost  not  know,' 
And  so  far  will  I  trust  thee,  gentle  Kate  !  " 

"  Meantime  far  be  from  me  the  impatience  which 
cannot  brook  the  supernatural,  the  vast ;  far  be  from 
me  the  lust  of  explaining  away  all  which  appeals  to 
the  imagination,  and  the  great  presentiments  which 
haunt  us.  Willingly  I  too  say  Hail !  to  the  unknown, 
awful  powers  which  transcend  the  ken  of  the  under 
standing." 

I  will  not  quote  anything  from  the  Essay 
called  "  Aristocracy."  But  let  him  who  wishes 
to  know  what  the  word  means  to  an  American 
whose  life  has  come  from  New  England  soil, 
whose  ancestors  have  breathed  New  England 


LAST  LITERARY  LABORS.  297 

air  for  many  generations,  read  it,  and  he  will 
find  a  new  interpretation  of  a  very  old  and  often 
greatly  wronged  appellation. 

"  Perpetual  Forces "  is  one  of  those  prose 
poems,  —  of  his  earlier  epoch,  I  have  no  doubt, 
—  in  which  he  plays  with  the  facts  of  science 
with  singular  grace  and  freedom. 

What  man  could  speak  more  fitly,  with  more 
authority  of  "  Character,"  than  Emerson  ?  When 
he  says,  "  If  all  things  are  taken  away,  I  have 
still  all  things  in  my  relation  to  the  Eternal," 
we  feel  that  such  an  utterance  is  as  natural  to 
his  pure  spirit  as  breathing  to  the  frame  in  which 
it  was  imprisoned. 

We  have  had  a  glimpse  of  Emerson  as  a 
school-master,  but  behind  and  far  above  the 
teaching  drill-master's  desk  is  the  chair  from 
which  he  speaks  to  us  of  "  Education."  Com 
pare  the  short  and  easy  method  of  the  wise  man 
of  old,  —  "  He  that  spareth  his  rod  hateth  his 
son,"  with  this  other,  "  Be  the  companion  of  his 
thought,  the  friend  of  his  friendship,  the  lover 
of  his  virtue,  —  but  no  kinsman  of  his  sin." 

"  The  Superlative  "  will  prove  light  and  pleas 
ant  reading  after  these  graver  essays.  M??S€V 
ayav,  —  ne  quid  mmis,  —  nothing  in  excess,  was 
his  precept  as  to  adjectives. 

Two  sentences  from  "  The  Sovereignty  of 
Ethics  "  will  go  far  towards  reconciling  elderly 


298  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

readers  who  have  not  forgotten  the  Westmin 
ster  Assembly's  Catechism  with  this  sweet-souled 
dealer  in  spiritual  dynamite  :  — 

"  Luther  would  cut  his  hand  off  sooner  than  write 
theses  against  the  pope  if  he  suspected  that  he  was 
bringing  on  with  all  his  might  the  pale  negations  of 
Boston  Unitarianism.  — 

"  If  I  miss  the  inspiration  of  the  saints  of  Calvinism, 
or  of  Platonism,  or  of  Buddhism,  our  times  are  not 
up  to  theirs,  or,  more  truly,  have  not  yet  their  own 
legitimate  force." 

So,  too,  this  from  "  The  Preacher  "  :  — 

"  All  civil  mankind  have  agreed  in  leaving  one  day 
for  contemplation  against  six  for  practice.  I  hope 
that  day  will  keep  its  honor  and  its  use.  —  The  Sab 
bath  changes  its  forms  from  age  to  age,  but  the 
substantial  benefit  endures." 

The  special  interest  of  the  Address  called 
"  The  Man  of  Letters  "  is,  that  it  was  delivered 
during  the  war.  He  was  no  advocate  for  peace 
where  great  principles  were  at  the  bottom  of  the 
conflict :  — 

"  War,  seeking  for  the  roots  of  strength,  comes 
upon  the  moral  aspects  at  once.  —  War  ennobles  the 
age.  —  Battle,  with  the  sword,  has  cut  many  a  Gor- 
dian  knot  in  twain  which  all  the  wit  of  East  and 
West,  of  Northern  and  Border  statesmen  could  not 
untie." 


ESSAYS.  299 

"  The  Scholar  "  was  delivered  before  two 
Societies  at  the  University  of  Virginia  so  late  as 
the  year  1876.  If  I  must  select  any  of  its  wise 
words,  I  will  choose  the  questions  which  he  has 
himself  italicized  to  show  his  sense  of  their  im 
portance  :  — 

"  For  all  men,  all  women,  Time,  your  country,  your 
condition,  the  invisible  world  are  the  interrogators  : 
Who  are  you  ?  What  do  you  ?  Can  you  obtain 
what  you  wish  ?  Is  there  method  in  your  conscious' 
ness  ?  Can  you  see  tendency  in  your  life  ?  Can 
you  help  any  soul  ? 

"  Can  he  answer  these  questions  ?  Can  he  dispose 
of  them  ?  Happy  if  you  can  answer  them  mutely  in 
the  order  and  disposition  of  your  life !  Happy  for 
more  than  yourself,  a  benefactor  of  men,  if  you  can 
answer  them  in  works  of  wisdom,  art,  or  poetry ; 
bestowing  on  the  general  mind  of  men  organic  cre 
ations,  to  be  the  guidance  and  delight  of  all  who  know 
them." 

The  Essay  on  "  Plutarch  "  has  a  peculiar  value 
from  the  fact  that  Emerson  owes  more  to  him 
than  to  any  other  author  except  Plato,  who  is 
one  of  the  only  two  writers  quoted  oftener  than 
Plutarch.  Mutato  nomine,  the  portrait  which 
Emerson  draws  of  the  Greek  moralist  might 
stand  for  his  own  :  — 

"Whatever  is  eminent  in  fact  or  in  fiction,  in 
opinion,  in  character,  in  institutions,  in  science  — 


300  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

natural,  moral,  or  metaphysical,  or  in  memorable 
sayings  drew  his  attention  and  came  to  his  pen  with 
more  or  less  fulness  of  record. 

"  A  poet  in  verse  or  prose  must  have  a  sensuous 
eye,  but  an  intellectual  co  -  perception.  Plutarch's 
memory  is  full  and  his  horizon  wide.  Nothing  touches 
man  but  he  feels  to  be  his. 

"  Plutarch  had  a  religion  which  Montaigne  wanted, 
and  which  defends  him  from  wantonness  ;  and  though 
Plutarch  is  as  plain  spoken,  his  moral  sentiment  is  al 
ways  pure.  — 

"  I  do  not  know  where  to  find  a  book  —  to  bprrow 
a  phrase  of  Ben  Jonson's  —  '  so  rammed  with  life,' 
and  this  in  chapters  chiefly  ethical,  which  are  so 
prone  to  be  heavy  and  sentimental.  —  His  vivacity 
and  abundance  never  leave  him  to  loiter  or  pound  on 
an  incident.  — 

"In  his  immense  quotation  and  allusion  we  quickly 
cease  to  discriminate  between  what  he  quotes  and  what 
he  invents.  —  'T  is  all  Plutarch,  by  right  of  eminent 
domain,  and  all  property  vests  in  this  emperor. 

"  It  is  in  consequence  of  this  poetic  trait  in  his 
mind,  that  I  confess  that,  in  reading  him,  I  embrace 
the  particulars,  and  carry  a  faint  memory  of  the  argu 
ment  or  general  design  of  the  chapter  ;  but  he  is  not 
less  welcome,  and  he  leaves  the  reader  with  a  relish 
and  a  necessity  for  completing  his  studies. 

"  He  is  a  pronounced  idealist,  who  does  not  hesi 
tate  to  say,  like  another  Berkeley,  '  Matter  is  itself 
privation.'  — 

"  Of  philosophy  he  is  more  interested  in  the  results 


ESSAYS.  301 

than  in  the  method.  He  has  a  just  instinct  of  the 
presence  of  a  master,  and  prefers  to  sit  as  a  scholar 
with  Plato  than  as  a  disputant. 

"  His  natural  history  is  that  of  a  lover  and  poet, 
and  not  of  a  physicist. 

"  But  though  curious  in  the  questions  of  the  schools 
on  the  nature  and  genesis  of  things,  his  extreme  in 
terest  in  every  trait  of  character,  and  his  broad  hu 
manity,  lead  him  constantly  to  Morals,  to  the  study 
of  the  Beautiful  and  Good.  Hence  his  love  of  heroes, 
his  rule  of  life,  and  his  clear  convictions  of  the  high 
destiny  of  the  soul.  La  Harpe  said  that  '  Plutarch 
is  the  genius  the  most  naturally  moral  that  ever  ex 
isted.' 

"  Plutarch  thought  '  truth  to  be  the  greatest  good 
that  man  can  receive,  and  the  goodliest  blessing  that 
God  can  give.' 

"  All  his  judgments  are  noble.  He  thought  with 
Epicurus  that  it  is  more  delightful  to  do  than  to  re 
ceive  a  kindness. 

"  Plutarch  was  well-born,  well-conditioned  —  emi 
nently  social,  he  was  a  king  in  his  own  house,  sur 
rounded  himself  with  select  friends,  and  knew  the 
high  value  of  good  conversation.  — 

"  He  had  that  universal  sympathy  with  genius 
which  makes  all  its  victories  his  own  ;  though  he  never 
used  verse,  he  had  many  qualities  of  the  poet  in  the 
power  of  his  imagination,  the  speed  of  his  mental 
associations,  and  his  sharp,  objective  eyes.  But  what 
specially  marks  him,  he  is  a  chief  example  of  the 
illumination  of  the  intellect  by  the  force  of  morals." 


302  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

How  much  of  all  this  would  have  been  recog 
nized  as  just  and  true  if  it  had  been  set  down  in 
an  obituary  notice  of  Emerson  ! 

I  have  already  made  use  of  several  of  the  other 
papers  contained  in  this  volume,  and  will  merely 
enumerate  all  that  follow  the  "  Plutarch."  Some 
of  the  titles  will  be  sure  to  attract  the  reader. 
They  are  "  Historic  Notes  of  Life  and  Letters  in 
New  England  j  "  "  The  Chardon  Street  Conven 
tion  ;  "  "  Ezra  Ripley,  D.  D.  ;  "  "  Mary  Moody 
Emerson  ;  "  "  Samuel  Hoar  ;  "  «  Thoreau  ;  " 
"  Carlyle."  — 

Mr.  Cabot  prefaces  the  eleventh  and  last 
volume  of  Emerson's  writings  with  the  follow 
ing  "  Note  "  :  — 

"  The  first  five  pieces  in  this  volume,  and  the 
*  Editorial  Address  '  from  the  '  Massachusetts  Quar 
terly  Review,'  were  published  by  Mr.  Emerson  long 
ago.  The  speeches  at  the  John  Brown,  the  Walter 
Scott,  and  the  Free  Religious  Association  meetings 
were  published  at  the  time,  no  doubt  with  his  consent, 
but  without  any  active  co-operation  on  his  part.  The 
'  Fortune  of  the  Republic  '  appeared  separately  in 
1879  ;  the  rest  have  never  been  published.  In  none 
was  any  change  from  the  original  form  made  by  me, 
except  in  the  '  Fortune  of  the  Republic,'  which  was 
made  up  of  several  lectures  for  the  occasion  upon 
which  it  was  read." 


"  MIS  CELLANIES."  303 

The  volume  of  "  Miscellanies "  contains  no 
less  than  twenty -three  pieces  of  very  various 
lengths  and  relating  to  many  different  subjects. 
The  five  referred  to  as  having  been  previously 
published  are,  "  The  Lord's  Supper,"  the  "  His 
torical  Discourse  in  Concord,"  the  "  Address  at 
the  Dedication  of  the  Soldiers'  Monument  in 
Concord,"  the  "Address  on  Emancipation  in  the 
British  West  Indies,"  and  the  Lecture  or  Essay 
on  "  War,"  —  all  of  which  have  been  already 
spoken  of. 

Next  in  order  comes  a  Lecture  on  the  "  Fu 
gitive  Slave  Law."  Emerson  says,  "I  do  not 
often  speak  on  public  questions.  —  My  own 
habitual  view  is  to  the  well-being  of  scholars." 
But  he  leaves  his  studies  to  attack  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery,  from  which  he  says  he  himself 
has  never  suffered  any  inconvenience,  and  the 
"  Law,"  which  the  abolitionists  would  always 
call  the  "  Fugitive  Slave  Bill."  Emerson  had 
a  great  admiration  for  Mr.  Webster,  but  he  did 
not  spare  him  as  he  recalled  his  speech  of  the 
seventh  of  March,  just  four  years  before  the 
delivery  of  this  Lecture.  He  warns  against 
false  leadership :  — 

"  To  make  good  the  cause  of  Freedom,  you  must 
draw  off  from  all  foolish  trust  in  others.  —  He  only 
who  is  able  to  stand  alone  is  qualified  for  society. 
And  that  I  understand  to  be  the  end  for  which  a 


304  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

soul  exists  in  this  world,  —  to  be  himself  the  counter 
balance  of  all  falsehood  and  all  wrong.  —  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  is  proud  and  strong  and  selfish.  —  Eng 
land  maintains  trade,  not  liberty." 

Cowper  had  said  long  before  this :  — 

"  doing  good, 
Disinterested  good,  is  not  our  trade." 

And  America  found  that  England  had  not 
learned  that  trade  when,  fifteen  years  after  this 
discourse  was  delivered,  the  conflict  between 
the  free  and  slave  states  threatened  the  ruin  of 
the  great  Republic,  and  England  forgot  her 
Anti-slavery  in  the  prospect  of  the  downfall  of 
"  a  great  empire  which  threatens  to  overshadow 
the  whole  earth." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Emerson  had 
never  been  identified  with  the  abolitionists.  But 
an  individual  act  of  wrong  sometimes  gives  a 
sharp  point  to  a  blunt  dagger  which  has  been 
kept  in  its  sheath  too  long  :  — 

"  The  events  of  the  last  few  years  and  months  and 
days  have  taught  us  the  lessons  of  centuries.  I  do 
not  see  how  a  barbarous  community  and  a  civilized 
community  can  constitute  one  State.  I  think  we  must 
get  rid  of  slavery  or  we  must  get  rid  of  freedom." 

These  were  his  words  on  the  26th  of  May, 
1856,  in  his  speech  on  "  The  Assault  upon  Mr. 
Sunnier." 


"MISCELLANIES."  305 

A  few  months  later,  in  his  "  Speech  on  the 
Affairs  of  Kansas,"  delivered  almost  five  years 
before  the  first  gun  was  fired  at  Fort  Sumter, 
he  spoke  the  following  fatally  prophetic  and 
commanding  words :  — 

"  The  hour  is  coming  when  the  strongest  will 
not  be  strong  enough.  A  harder  task  will  the  new 
revolution  of  the  nineteenth  century  be  than  was  the 
revolution  of  the  eighteenth  century.  I  think  the 
American  Revolution  bought  its  glory  cheap.  If 
the  problem  was  new,  it  was  simple.  If  there  were 
few  people,  they  were  united,  and  the  enemy  three 
thousand  miles  off.  But  now,  vast  property,  gigantic 
interests,  family  connections,  webs  of  party,  cover  the 
land  with  a  net-work  that  immensely  multiplies  the 
dangers  of  war. 

"  Fellow-citizens,  in  these  times  full  of  the  fate  of 
the  Republic,  I  think  the  towns  should  hold  town 
meetings,  and  resolve  themselves  into  Committees  of 
Safety,  go  into  permanent  sessions,  adjourning  from 
week  to  week,  from  month  to  month.  I  wish  we 
could  send  the  sergeant-at-arms  to  stop  every  Ameri 
can  who  is  about  to  leave  the  country.  Send  home 
every  one  who  is  abroad,  lest  they  should  find  no 
country  to  return  to.  Come  home  and  stay  at  home 
while  there  is  a  country  to  save.  When  it  is  lost  it 
will  be  time  enough  then  for  any  who  are  luckless 
enough  to  remain  alive  to  gather  up  their  clothes  and 
depart  to  some  land  where  freedom  exists." 

Two  short  speeches  follow,  one  delivered  at  a 
20 


806  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

meeting  for  the  relief  of  the  family  of  John 
Brown,  on  the  18th  of  November,  1859,  the 
other  after  his  execution  :  — 

"  Our  blind  statesmen,"  he  says,  "  go  up  and  down, 
with  committees  of  vigilance  and  safety,  hunting  for 
the  origin  of  this  new  heresy.  They  will  need  a 
very  vigilant  committee  indeed  to  find  its  birthplace, 
and  a  very  strong  force  to  root  it  out.  For  the  arch- 
Abolitionist,  older  than  Brown,  and  older  than  the 
Shenandoah  Mountains,  is  Love,  whose  other  name 
is  Justice,  which  was  before  Alfred,  before  Lycurgus, 
before  Slavery,  and  will  be  after  it." 

From  his  "  Discourse  on  Theodore  Parker  "  I 
take  the  following  vigorous  sentence  :  — 

"His  commanding  merit  as  a  reformer  is  this, 
that  he  insisted  beyond  all  men  in  pulpits,  —  I  cannot 
think  of  one  rival,  —  that  the  essence  of  Christianity 
is  its  practical  morals ;  it  is  there  for  use,  or  it  is 
nothing ;  and  if  you  combine  it  with  sharp  trading, 
or  with  ordinary  city  ambitions  to  gloze  over  munic 
ipal  corruptions,  or  private  intemperance,  or  success 
ful  fraud,  or  immoral  politics,  or  unjust  wars,  or  the 
cheating  of  Indians,  or  the  robbery  of  frontier  nations, 
or  leaving  your  principles  at  home  to  follow  on  the 
high  seas  or  in  Europe  a  supple  complaisance  to  ty 
rants,  —  it  is  hypocrisy,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  you ; 
and  no  love  of  religious  music,  or  of  dreams  of 
Swedenborg,  or  praise  of  John  Wesley,  or  of  Jeremy 
Taylor,  can  save  you  from  the  Satan  which  you 
are." 


"MISCELLANIES."  307 

The  Lecture  on  "  American  Civilization," 
made  up  from  two  Addresses,  one  of  which  was 
delivered  at  Washington  on  the  31st  of  January, 
1862,  is,  as  might  be  expected,  full  of  aiiti- 
slavery.  That  on  the  "  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion,"  delivered  in  Boston  in  September,  1862,  is 
as  full  of  "  silent  joy  "  at  the  advent  of  "  a  day 
which  most  of  us  dared  not  hope  to  see,  • —  an 
event  worth  the  dreadful  war,  worth  its  costs 
and  uncertainties." 

From  the  "  Remarks  "  at  the  funeral  services 
for  Abraham  Lincoln,  held  in  Concord  on  the 
19th  of  April,  1865,  I  extract  this  admirably 
drawn  character  of  the  man :  — 

"  He  is  the  true  history  of  the  American  people  in 
his  time.  Step  by  step  he  walked  before  them ;  slow 
with  their  slowness,  quickening  his  march  by  theirs, 
the  true  representative  of  this  continent ;  an  entirely 
public  man  ;  father  of  his  country,  the  pulse  of  twenty 
millions  throbbing  in  his  heart,  the  thought  of  their 
minds  articulated  by  his  tongue." 

The  following  are  the  titles  of  the  remaining 
contents  of  this  volume  :  "  Harvard  Commemo 
ration  Speech  ;  "  "  Editor's  Address  :  Massa 
chusetts  Quarterly  Review ; "  "  Woman  ; "  "  Ad 
dress  to  Kossuth  ; "  "  Robert  Burns  ;"  "  Walter 
Scott ; "  "  Remarks  at  the  Organization  of  the 
Free  Religious  Association  ;  "  "  Speech  at  the 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Free  Religious  Associa 
tion  ; "  "  The  Fortune  of  the  Republic." 


308  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

In  treating  of  the  "  Woman  Question,"  Emer 
son  speaks  temperately,  delicately,  with  perfect 
fairness,  but  leaves  it  in  the  hands  of  the  women 
themselves  to  determine  whether  they  shall  have 
an  equal  part  in  public  affairs.  "  The  new 
movement,"  he  says,  "  is  only  a  tide  shared  by 
the  spirits  of  man  and  woman;  and  you  may 
proceed  in  the  faith  that  whatever  the  woman's 
heart  is  prompted  to  desire,  the  man's  mind  is 
simultaneously  prompted  to  accomplish." 

It  is  hard  to  turn  a  leaf  in  any  book  of  Emer 
son's  writing  without  finding  some  pithy  remark 
or  some  striking  image  or  witty  comment  which 
illuminates  the  page  where  we  find  it  and  tempts 
us  to  seize  upon  it  for  an  extract.  But  I  must 
content  myself  with  these  few  sentences  from 
"  The  Fortune  of  the  Republic, "  the  last  ad 
dress  he  ever  delivered,  in  which  his  belief  in 
America  and  her  institutions,  and  his  trust  in 
the  Providence  which  overrules  all  nations  and 
all  worlds,  have  found  fitting  utterance  :  — 

"  Let  the  passion  for  America  cast  out  the  passion 
for  Europe.  Here  let  there  be  what  the  earth  waits 
for,  —  exalted  manhood.  What  this  country  longs  for 
is  personalities,  grand  persons,  to  counteract  its  mate 
rialities.  For  it  is  the  rule  of  the  universe  that  corn 
shall  serve  man,  and  not  man  corn. 

"  They  who  find  America  insipid,  —  they  for  whom 
London  and  Paris  have  spoiled  their  own  homes,  can 


"MISCELLANIES."  309 

be  spared  to  return  to  those  cities.  I  not  only  see  a 
career  at  home  for  more  genius  than  we  have,  but  for 
more  than  there  is  in  the  world. 

"  Our  helm  is  given  up  to  a  better  guidance  than 
our  own ;  the  course  of  events  is  quite  too  strong  for 
any  helmsman,  and  our  little  wherry  is  taken  in  tow 
by  the  ship  of  the  great  Admiral  which  knows  the 
way,  and  has  the  force  to  draw  men  and  states  and 
planets  to  their  good." 

With  this  expression  of  love  and  respect  for 
his  country  and  trust  in  his  country's  God,  we 
may  take  leave  of  Emerson's  prose  writings. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
EMERSON'S  POEMS. 

THE  following  "  Prefatory  Note  "  by  Mr. 
Cabot  introduces  the  ninth  volume  of  the  series 
of  Emerson's  collected  works  :  — 

"  This  volume  contains  nearly  all  the  pieces  in 
cluded  in  the  POEMS  and  MAY-DAY  of  former  edi 
tions.  In  1876  Mr.  Emerson  published  a  selection 
from  his  poems,  adding  six  new  ones,  and  omitting 
many.  Of  those  omitted,  several  are  now  restored, 
in  accordance  with  the  expressed  wishes  of  many 
readers  and  lovers  of  them.  Also  some  pieces  never 
before  published  are  here  given  in  an  Appendix,  on 
various  grounds.  Some  of  them  appear  to  have  had 
Emerson's  approval,  but  to  have  been  withheld  be 
cause  they  were  unfinished.  These  it  seemed  best 
not  to  suppress,  now  that  they  can  never  receive  their 
completion.  Others,  mostly  of  an  early  date,  remained 
unpublished  doubtless  because  of  their  personal  and 
private  nature.  Some  of  these  seem  to  have  an  auto 
biographic  interest  sufficient  to  justify  their  publica 
tion.  Others  again,  often  mere  fragments,  have  been 
admitted  as  characteristic,  or  as  expressing  in  poetic 
form  thoughts  found  in  the  Essays. 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  311 

"  In  coming  to  a  decision  in  these  cases,  it  seemed 
on  the  whole  preferable  to  take  the  risk  of  including 
too  much  rather  than  the  opposite,  and  to  leave  tho 
task  of  further  winnowing  to  the  hands  of  time. 
.  "  As  was  stated  in  the  Preface  to  the  first  volume 
of  this  edition  of  Mr.  Emerson's  writings,  the  readings 
adopted  by  him  in  the  "  Selected  Poems  "  have  not 
always  been  followed  here,  but  in  some  cases  prefer 
ence  has  been  given  to  corrections  made  by  him  when 
he  was  in  fuller  strength  than  at  the  time  of  the  last 
revision. 

"  A  change  in  the  arrangement  of  the  stanzas  of 
"  May-Day,"  in  the  part  representative  of  the  march 
of  Spring,  received  his  sanction  as  bringing  them  more 
nearly  in  accordance  with  the  events  in  Nature." 

Emerson's  verse  has  been  a  fertile  source  o£ 
discussion.  Some  have  called  him  a  poet  and 
nothing  but  a  poet,  and  some  have  made  so 
much  of  the  palpable  defects  of  his  verse  that 
they  have  forgotten  to  recognize  its  true  claims. 
His  prose  is  often  highly  poetical,  but  his  verse 
is  something  more  than  the  most  imaginative 
and  rhetorical  passages  of  his  prose.  An  illus 
tration  presently  to  be  given  will  make  this  point 
clear. 

Poetry  is  to  prose  what  the  so-called  full  dress 
of  the  ball-room  is  to  the  plainer  garments  of 
the  household  and  the  street.  Full  dress,  as  we 
call  it,  is  so  full  of  beauty  that  it  cannot  hold  it 


312  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

all,  and  the  redundancy  of  nature  overflows  the 
narrowed  margin  of  satin  or  velvet. 

It  reconciles  us  to  its  approach  to  nudity  by 
the  richness  of  its  drapery  and  ornaments.  A 
pearl  or  diamond  necklace  or  a  blushing  bouquet 
excuses  the  liberal  allowance  of  undisguised  na 
ture.  We  expect  from  the  fine  lady  in  her 
brocades  and  laces  a  generosity  of  display  which 
we  should  reprimand  with  the  virtuous  severity 
of  Tartuffe  if  ventured  upon  by  the  waiting- 
maid  in  her  calicoes.  So  the  poet  reveals  him 
self  under  the  protection  of  his  imaginative  and 
melodious  phrases,  —  the  flowers  and  jewels  of 
his  vocabulary. 

Here  is  a  prose  sentence  from  Emerson's 
"  Works  and  Days : "  — 

"  The  days  are  ever  divine  as  to  the  first  Aryans. 
They  come  and  go  like  muffled  and  veiled  figures, 
sent  from  a  distant  friendly  party ;  but  they  say 
nothing,  and  if  we  do  not  use  the  gifts  they  bring, 
they  carry  them  as  silently  away." 

Now  see  this  thought  in  full  dress,  and  then 
ask  what  is  the  difference  between  prose  and 
poetry :  — 

"DAYS. 

"  Daughters  of  Time,  the  hypocritic  Days, 
Muffled  and  dumb  like  barefoot  dervishes, 
And  marching  single  in  an  endless  file, 
Bring  diadems  and  fagots  in  their  hands. 
To  each  they  offer  gifts  after  his  will, 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  313 

Bread,  kingdom,  stars,  and  sky  that  holds  them  all. 

I,  in  my  pleached  garden  watched  the  pomp, 

Forgot  my  morning  wishes,  hastily 

Took  a  few  herbs  and  apples,  and  the  Day 

Turned  and  departed  silent.     I  too  late 

Under  her  solemn  fillet  saw  the  scorn." 

—  Cinderella  at  the  fireside,  and  Cinderella 
at  the  prince's  ball !  The  full  dress  version  of 
the  thought  is  glittering-  with  new  images  like 
bracelets  and  brooches  and  ear-rings,  and  fringed 
with  fresh  adjectives  like  edges  of  embroidery. 
That  one  word  pleached,  an  heir-loom  from 
Queen  Elizabeth's  day,  gives  to  the  noble  sonnet 
an  antique  dignity  and  charm  like  the  effect  of 
an  ancestral  jewel.  But  mark  that  now  the  poet 
reveals  himself  as  he  could  not  in  the  prosaic 
form  of  the  first  extract.  It  is  his  own  neglect 
of  his  great  opportunity  of  which  he  now  speaks, 
and  not  merely  the  indolent  indifference  of 
others.  It  is  himself  who  is  the  object  of  scorn. 
Self-revelation  of  beauty  embellished  by  orna 
ments  is  the  privilege  of  full  dress  ;  self -reve 
lation  in  the  florid  costume  of  verse  is  the  divine 
right  of  the  poet.  Passion  that  must  express 
itself  longs  always  for  the  freedom  of  rhythmic 
utterance.  And  in  spite  of  the  exaggeration  and 
extravagance  which  shield  themselves  under  the 
claim  of  poetic  license,  I  venture  to  affirm  that 
"In  vino  veritas  "  is  not  truer  than  In  carmine 
veritas. 


314  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

As  a  further  illustration  of  what  has  just 
been  said  of  the  self-revelations  to  be  looked  for 
in  verse,  and  in  Emerson's  verse  more  especially, 
let  the  reader  observe  how  freely  he  talks  about 
his  bodily  presence  and  infirmities  in  his  poetry, 
—  subjects  he  never  referred  to  in  prose,  except 
incidentally,  in  private  letters. 

Emerson  is  so  essentially  a  poet  that  whole 
pages  of  his  are  like  so  many  litanies  of  alter 
nating  chants  and  recitations.  His  thoughts  slip 
on  and  off  their  light  rhythmic  robes  just  as  the 
mood  takes  him,  as  was  shown  in  the  passage  I 
have  quoted  in  prose  and  in  verse.  Many  of 
the  metrical  preludes  to  his  lectures  are  a  versi 
fied  and  condensed  abstract  of  the  leading  doc 
trine  of  the  discourse.  They  are  a  curious  in 
stance  of  survival ;  the  lecturer,  once  a  preach 
er,  still  wants  his  text ;  and  finds  his  scriptural 
motto  in  his  own  rhythmic  inspiration. 

Shall  we  rank  Emerson  among  the  great  poets 
or  not  ? 

"  The  great  poets  are  judged  by  the  frame  of  mind 
they  induce ;  and  to  them,  of  all  men,  the  severest 
criticism  is  due." 

These  are  Emerson's  words  in  the  Preface  to 
"  Parnassus." 
His  own  poems  will  stand  this  test  as  well  as 


EMERSOWS  POEMS.  315 

any  in  the  language.  They  lift  the  reader  into 
a  higher  region  of  thought  and  feeling.  This 
seems  to  me  a  better  test  to  apply  to  them 
than  the  one  which  Mr.  Arnold  cited  from 
Milton.  The  passage  containing  this  must  be 
taken,  not  alone,  but  with  the  context.  Milton 
had  been  speaking  of  "  Logic  "  and  of  "  Rheto 
ric,"  and  spoke  of  poetry  "  as  being  less  subtile 
and  fine,  but  more  simple,  sensuous,  and  passion 
ate."  This  relative  statement,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten,  is  conditioned  by  what  went  before. 
If  the  terms  are  used  absolutely,  and  not  com 
paratively,  as  Milton  used  them,  they  must  be 
very  elastic  if  they  would  stretch  widely  enough 
to  include  all  the  poems  which  the  world  recog 
nizes  as  masterpieces,  nay,  to  include  some  of 
the  best  of  Milton's  own. 

In  spite  oi  what  he  said  about  himself  in  his 
letter  to  Carlyle,  Emerson  was  not  only  a  poet, 
but  a  very  remarkable  one.  Whether  a  great 
poet  or  not  will  depend  on  the  scale  we  use  and 
the  meaning  we  affix  to  the  term.  The  heat  at 
eighty  degrees  of  Fahrenheit  is  one  thing  and  the 
heat  at  eighty  degrees  of  Re'aumur  is  a  very 
different  matter.  The  rank  of  poets  is  a  point 
of  very  unstable  equilibrium.  From  the  days 
of  Homer  to  our  own,  critics  have  been  dis 
puting  about  the  place  to  be  assigned  to  this  or 
that  member  of  the  poetic  hierarchy.  It  is  not 


316  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

the  most  popular  poet  who  is  necessarily  the 
greatest ;  Wordsworth  never  had  half  the  pop 
ularity  of  Scott  or  Moore.  It  is  not  the  mul 
titude  of  remembered  passages  which  settles 
the  rank  of  a  metrical  composition  as  poetry. 
Gray's  "  Elegy,"  it  is  true,  is  full  of  lines  we  all 
remember,  and  is  a  great  poem,  if  that  term  can 
be  applied  to  any  piece  of  verse  of  that  length. 
But  what  shall  we  say  to  the  "  Ars  Poetica " 
of  Horace?  It  is  crowded  with  lines  worn 
smooth  as  old  sesterces  by  constant  quotation. 
And  yet  we  should  rather  call  it  a  versified  criti 
cism  than  a  poem  in  the  full  sense  of  that  word. 
And  what  shall  we  do  with  Pope's  "  Essay 
on  Man,"  which  has  furnished  more  familiar 
lines  than  "  Paradise  Lost "  and  "  Paradise  Re 
gained  "  both  together  ?  For  all  that,  we  know 
there  is  a  school  of  writers  who  will  not  allow 
that  Pope  deserves  the  name  of  poet. 

It  takes  a  generation  or  two  to  find  out  what 
are  the  passages  in  a  great  writer  which  are  to 
become  commonplaces  in  literature  and  conver 
sation.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Emer 
son  is  one  of  those  authors  whose  popularity 
must  diffuse  itself  from  above  downwards.  And 
after  all,  few  will  dare  assert  that  "  The  Van 
ity  of  Human  Wishes "  is  greater  as  a  poem 
than  Shelley's  "  Ode  to  the  West  Wind,"  or 
Keats's  "  Ode  to  a  Nightingale,"  because  no 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  317 

line  in  either  of  these  poems  is  half  so  often 
quoted  as 

"  To  point  a  moral  or  adorn  a  tale." 

We  cannot  do  better  than  begin  our  consid 
eration  of  Emerson's  poetry  with  Emerson's 
own  self-estimate.  He  says  in  a  fit  of  humility, 
writing  to  Carlyle :  — 

"  I  do  not  belong  to  the  poets,  but  only  to  a  low 
department  of  literature,  the  reporters,  suburban 
men." 

But  Miss  Peabody  writes  to  Mr.  Ireland  :  — 
"  He  once  said  to  me,  '  I  am  not  a  great  poet  — 
but  whatever  is  of  me  is  a  poet.'  " 

These  opposite  feelings  were  the  offspring  of 
different  moods  and  different  periods. 

Here  is  a  fragment,  written  at  the  age  of 
twenty-eight,  in  which  his  self-distrust  and  his 
consciousness  of  the  "  vision,"  if  not  "  the  faculty, 
divine,"  are  revealed  with  the  brave  nudity  of 
the  rhythmic  confessional :  — 
"  A  dull  uncertain  brain, 

But  gifted  yet  to  know 

That  God  has  cherubim  who  go 

Singing  an  immortal  strain, 

Immortal  here  below. 

I  know  the  mighty  bards, 

I  listen  while  they  sing, 

And  now  I  know 

The  secret  store 


318  RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON. 

Which  these  explore 

When  they  with  torch  of  genius  pierce 

The  tenfold  clouds  that  cover 

The  riches  of  the  universe 

From  God's  adoring  lover. 

And  if  to  me  it  is  not  given 

To  fetch  one  ingot  thence 

Of  that  unfading  gold  of  Heaven 

His  merchants  may  dispense, 

Yet  well  I  know  the  royal  mine 

And  know  the  sparkle  of  its  ore, 
Know  Heaven's  truth  from  lies  that  shine,  — 

Explored,  they  teach  us  to  explore." 

These  lines  are  from  "  The  Poet,"  a  series 
of  fragments  given  in  the  "  Appendix,"  which, 
with  his  first  volume,  "  Poems,"  his  second, 
"May-Day,  and  other  Pieces,"  form  the  complete 
ninth  volume  of  the  new  series.  These  frag 
ments  contain  some  of  the  loftiest  and  noblest 
passages  to  be  found  in  his  poetical  works,  and 
if  the  reader  should  doubt  which  of  Emerson's 
self-estimates  in  his  two  different  moods  spoken 
of  above  had  most  truth  in  it,  he  could  question 
no  longer  after  reading  "  The  Poet." 

Emerson  has  the  most  exalted  ideas  of  the 
true  poetic  function,  as  this  passage  from  "  Mer 
lin  "  sufficiently  shows  :  — 

"  Thy  trivial  harp  will  never  please 
Or  fill  my  craving  ear  ; 
Its  chords  should  ring  as  blows  the  breeze, 
Free,  peremptory,  clear. 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  319 

No  jingling  serenader's  art 

Nor  tinkling  of  piano-strings 

Can  make  the  wild  blood  start 

In  its  mystic  springs  ; 

The  kingly  bard 

Must  smite  the  chords  rudely  and  hard, 

As  with  hammer  or  with  mace  ; 

That  they  may  render  back 

Artful  thunder,  which  conveys 

Secrets  of  the  solar  track, 

Sparks  of  the  supersolar  blaze. 


Great  is  the  art, 

Great  be  the  manners  of  the  bard. 

He  shall  not  his  brain  encumber 

With  the  coil  of  rhythm  and  number  ; 

But  leaving  rule  and  pale  forethought 

He  shall  aye  climb 

For  his  rhyme. 

'Pass  in,  pass  in,'  the  angels  say, 
'  In  to  the  upper  doors, 

Nor  count  compartments  of  the  floors, 

But  mount  to  paradise 

By  the  stairway  of  surprise.'  " 

And  here  is  another  passage  from  "  The  Poet," 
mentioned  in  the  quotation  before  the  last,  in 
which  the  bard  is  spoken  of  as  performing  greater 
miracles  than  those  ascribed  to  Orpheus :  — 
"  A  Brother  of  the  world,  his  song 

Sounded  like  a  tempest  strong 

Which  tore  from  oaks  their  branches  broad, 

And  stars  from  the  ecliptic  road. 

Time  wore  he  as  his  clothing-weeds, 


320  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

He  sowed  the  sun  and  moon  for  seeds. 

As  melts  the  iceberg  in  the  seas, 

As  clouds  give  rain  to  the  eastern  breeze, 

As  snow-banks  thaw  in  April's  beam, 

The  solid  kingdoms  like  a  dream 

Resist  in  vain  his  motive  strain, 

They  totter  now  and  float  amain. 

For  the  Muse  gave  special  charge 

His  learning  should  be  deep  and  large, 

And  his  training  should  not  scant 

The  deepest  lore  of  wealth  or  want  : 

His  flesh  should  feel,  his  eyes  should  read 

Every  maxim  of  dreadful  Need  ; 

In  its  fulness  he  should  taste 

Life's  honeycomb,  but  not  too  fast ; 

Full  fed,  but  not  intoxicated  ; 

He  should  be  loved  ;  he  should  be  hated  ; 

A  blooming  child  to  children  dear, 

His  heart  should  palpitate  with  fear." 

We  look  naturally  to  see  what  poets  were 
Emerson's  chief  favorites.  In  his  poems  "  The 
Test"  and  "The  Solution,"  we  find  that  the 
five  whom  he  recognizes  as  defying  the  powers 
of  destruction  are  Homer,  Dante,  Shakespeare, 
Swedenborg,  Goethe. 

Here  are  a  few  of  his  poetical  characterizations 
from  "  The  Harp :  "— 

"  And  this  at  least  I  dare  affirm, 
Since  genius  too  has  bound  and  term, 
There  is  no  bard  in  all  the  choir, 
Not  Homer's  self,  the  poet-sire, 
Wise  Milton's  odes  of  pensive  pleasure, 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  321 

Or  Shakespeare  whom  no  mind  can  measure, 

Nor  Collins'  verse  of  tender  pain, 

Nor  Byron's  clarion  of  disdain, 

Scott,  the  delight  of  generous  boys, 

Or  Wordsworth,  Pan's  recording  voice,  — 

Not  one  of  all  can  put  in  verse, 

Or  to  this  presence  could  rehearse 

The  sights  and  voices  ravishing 

The  boy  knew  on  the  hills  in  spring."  — 

In  the  notice  of  "Parnassus"  some  of  his 
preferences  have  been  already  mentioned. 

Comparisons  between  men  of  genius  for  the 
sake  of  aggrandizing  the  one  at  the  expense  of 
the  other  are  the  staple  of  the  meaner  kinds  of 
criticism.  No  lover  of  art  will  clash  a  Venetian 
goblet  against  a  Roman  amphora  to  see  which 
is  strongest;  no  lover  of  nature  undervalues  a 
violet  because  it  is  not  a  rose.  But  comparisons 
used  in  the  way  of  description  are  not  odious. 

The  difference  between  Emerson's  poetry  and 
that  of  the  contemporaries  with  whom  he  would 
naturally  be  compared  is  that  of  algebra  and 
arithmetic.  He  deals  largely  in  general  sym 
bols,  abstractions,  and  infinite  series.  He  is  al 
ways  seeing  the  universal  in  the  particular.  The 
great  multitude  of  mankind  care  more  for  two 
and  two,  something  definite,  a  fixed  quantity, 
than  for  a  -}-  6'8  and  or2'8,  —  symbols  used  for 
undetermined  amounts  and  indefinite  possibili- 
21 


322  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

ties.  Emerson  is  a  citizen  of  the  universe  who 
has  taken  up  his  residence  for  a  few  days  and 
nights  in  this  travelling  caravansary  between 
the  two  inns  that  hang  out  the  signs  of  Venus 
and  Mars.  This  little  planet  could  not  provin 
cialize  such  a  man.  The  multiplication-table  is 
for  the  every  day  use  of  every  day  earth-people, 
but  the  symbols  he  deals  with  are  too  vast,  some 
times,  we  must  own,  too  vague,  for  the  unillumi- 
nated  terrestrial  and  arithmetical  intelligence. 
One  cannot  help  feeling  that  he  might  have 
dropped  in  upon  us  from  some  remote  centre  of 
spiritual  life,  where,  instead  of  addition  and  sub 
traction,  children  were  taught  quaternions,  and 
where  the  fourth  dimension  of  space  was  as  famil 
iarly  known  to  everybody  as  a  foot-measure  or  a 
yard-stick  is  to  us.  Not  that  he  himself  dealt 
in  the  higher  or  the  lower  mathematics,  but  he 
saw  the  hidden  spiritual  meaning  of  things  as 
Professor  Cayley  or  Professor  Sylvester  see  the 
meaning  of  their  mysterious  formula.  Without 
using  the  Rosetta-stone  of  Swedenborg*,  Emer 
son  finds  in  every  phenomenon  of  nature  a  hiero 
glyphic.  Others  measure  and  describe  the  monu 
ments, — he  reads  the  sacred  inscriptions.  How 
alive  he  makes  Monadnoc!  Dinocrates  under 
took  to  "hew  Mount  Athos  to  the  shape  of 
man"  in  the  likeness  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
Without  the  help  of  tools  or  workmen,  Emerson 


EMERSON' S  POEMS.  323 

makes  "  Cheshire's  haughty  hill "  stand  before 
us  an  impersonation  of  kingly  humanity,  and 
talk  with  us  as  a  god  from  Olympus  might  have 
talked. 

This  is  the  fascination  of  Emerson's  poetry ; 
it  moves  in  a  world  of  universal  symbolism.  The 
sense  of  the  infinite  fills  it  with  its  majestic 
presence.  It  shows,  also,  that  he  has  a  keen 
delight  in  the  every-day  aspects  of  nature.  But 
he  looks  always  with  the  eye  of  a  poet,  never 
with  that  of  the  man  of  science.  The  law  of 
association  of  ideas  is  wholly  different  in  the  two. 
The  scientific  man  connects  objects  in  sequences 
and  series,  and  in  so  doing  is  guided  by  their 
collective  resemblances.  His  aim  is  to  classify 
and  index  all  that  he  sees  and  contemplates  so 
as  to  show  the  relations  which  unite,  and  learn 
the  laws  that  govern,  the  subjects  of  his  study. 
The  poet  links  the  most  remote  objects  together 
by  the  slender  filament  of  wit,  the  flowery  chain 
of  fancy,  or  the  living,  pulsating  cord  of  imagina 
tion,  always  guided  by  his  instinct  for  the  beauti 
ful.  The  man  of  science  clings  to  his  object,  as 
the  marsupial  embryo  to  its  teat,  until  he  has 
filled  himself  as  full  as  he  can  hold ;  the  poet 
takes  a  sip  of  his  dew-drop,  throws  his  head  up 
like  a  chick,  rolls  his  eyes  around  in  contempla 
tion  of  the  heavens  above  him  and  the  universe  in 
general,  and  never  thinks  of  asking  a  Linnsean 


324  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

question  as  to  the  flower  that  furnished  him 
his  dew-drop.  The  poetical  and  scientific  natures 
rarely  coexist;  Haller  and  Goethe  are  examples 
which  show  that  such  a  union  may  occur,  but  as 
a  rule  the  poet  is  contented  with  the  colors  of 
the  rainbow  and  leaves  the  study  of  Fraunhof  er's 
lines  to  the  man  of  science. 

Though  far  from  being  a  man  of  science, 
Emerson  was  a  realist  in  the  best  sense  of  that 
word.  But  his  realities  reached  to  the  highest 
heavens  :  like  Milton,  — 

"  He  passed  the  flaming  bounds  of  place  and  time  ; 
The  living  throne,  the  sapphire  blaze 
Where  angels  tremble  while  they  gaze, 
HE  SAW"  — 

Everywhere  his  poetry  abounds  in  celestial  im 
agery.  If  Galileo  had  been  a  poet  as  well  as  an 
astronomer,  he  would  hardly  have  sowed  his 
verse  thicker  with  stars  than  we  find  them  in  the 
poems  of  Emerson. 

Not  less  did  Emerson  clothe  the  common  as 
pects  of  life  with  the  colors  of  his  imagination. 
He  was  ready  to  see  beauty  everywhere :  — 

"  Thou  can'st  not  wave  thy  staff  in  air, 
Or  dip  thy  paddle  in  the  lake, 
But  it  carves  the  bow  of  beauty  there, 
And  the  ripples  in  rhyme  the  oar  forsake." 

He  called  upon  the  poet  to 

"  Tell  men  what  they  knew  before  ; 
Paint  the  prospect  from  their  door." 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  325 

And  his  practice  was  like  his  counsel.  He  saw 
our  plain  New  England  life  with  as  honest  New 
England  eyes  as  ever  looked  at  a  huckleberry- 
bush  or  into  a  milking-pail. 

This  noble  quality  of  his  had  its  dangerous 
side.  In  one  of  his  exalted  moods  he  would 
have  us 

"Give  to  barrows,  trays  and  pans 
Grace  and  glimmer  of  romance." 

But  in  his  Lecture  on  "  Poetry  and  Imagina 
tion,"  he  says : — 

"  What  we  once  admired  as  poetry  has  long  since 
come  to  be  a  sound  of  tin  pans ;  and  many  of  our 
later  books  we  have  outgrown.  Perhaps  Homer  and 
Milton  will  be  tin  pans  yet." 

The  "  grace  and  glimmer  of  romance  "  which 
•was  to  invest  the  tin  pan  are  forgotten,  and  he 
uses  it  as  a  belittling  object  for  comparison. 
He  himself  was  not  often  betrayed  into  the  mis 
take  of  confounding  the  prosaic  with  the  poetical, 
but  his  followers,  so  far  as  the  "realists"  have 
taken  their  hint  from  him,  have  done  it  most 
thoroughly.  Mr.  Whitman  enumerates  all  the 
objects  he  happens  to  be  looking  at  as  if  they 
were  equally  suggestive  to  the  poetical  mind,  fur 
nishing  his  reader  a  large  assortment  on  which 
he  may  exercise  the  fullest  freedom  of  selec 
tion.  It  is  only  giving  him  the  same  liberty 
that  Lord  Timothy  Dexter  allowed  his  readers 


326  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

in  the  matter  of  punctuation,  by  leaving  all 
stops  out  of  his  sentences,  and  printing  at  the 
end  of  his  book  a  page  of  commas,  semicolons, 
colons,  periods,  notes  of  interrogation  and  ex 
clamation,  with  which  the  reader  was  expected 
to  "pepper"  the  pages  as  he  might  see  fit. 

French  realism  does  not  stop  at  the  tin  pan, 
but  must  deal  with  the  slop-pail  and  the  wash- 
tub  as  if  it  were  literally  true  that 

"  In  the  mud  and  scum  of  things 
There  alway,  alway  something  sings." 

Happy  were  it  for  the  world  if  M.  Zola  and  his 
tribe  would  stop  even  there ;  but  when  they  cross 
the  borders  of  science  into  its  infected  districts, 
leaving  behind  them  the  reserve  and  delicacy 
which  the  genuine  scientific  observer  never  for 
gets  to  carry  with  him,  they  disgust  even  those 
to  whom  the  worst  scenes  they  describe  are  too 
wretchedly  familiar.  The  true  realist  is  such  a 
man  as  Parent  du  Chatelet ;  exploring  all  that 
most  tries  the  senses  and  the  sentiments,  and 
reporting  all  truthfully,  but  soberly,  chastely, 
without  needless  circumstance,  or  picturesque 
embellishment,  for  a  useful  end,  and  not  for  a 
mere  sensational  effect. 

What  a  range  of  subjects  from  "  The  Prob 
lem  "  and  "  Uriel "  and  "  Forerunners  "  to  "  The 
Humble-Bee"  and  "The  Titmouse!"  Nor  let 
the  reader  who  thinks  the  poet  must  go  far  to 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  327 

find  a  fitting  theme  fail  to  read  the  singularly 
impressive  home-poem,  "  Hamatreya,"  beginning 
with  the  names  of  the  successive  owners  of  a 
piece  of  land  in  Concord,  —  probably  the  same 
he  owned  after  the  last  of  them  :  — 

"Bulkeley,  Hunt,  Willard,  Hosmer,  Meriam,  Flint," 

and  ending  with  the  austere  and  solemn  "  Earth- 
Song." 

Full  of  poetical  feeling,  and  with  a  strong 
desire  for  poetical  expression,  Emerson  experi 
enced  a  difficulty  in  the  mechanical  part  of  met 
rical  composition.  His  muse  picked  her  way  as 
his  speech  did  in  conversation  and  in  lecturing. 
He  made  desperate  work  now  and  then  with 
rhyme  and  rhythm,  showing  that  though  a  born 
poet  he  was  not  a  born  singer.  Think  of  mak 
ing  "  feeble  "  rhyme  with  "  people,"  "  abroad  " 
with  "Lord,"  and  contemplate  the  following 
couplet  which  one  cannot  make  rhyme  without 
actual  verbicide :  — 

"  Where  feeds  the  moose,  and  walks  the  surly  bear, 
And  up  the  tall  mast  runs  the  woodpeck  "-  are  ! 

And  how  could  prose  go  on  all-fours  more  un- 
metrically  than  this  ? 

"  In  Adirondac  lakes 
At  morn  or  noon  the  guide  rows  bare-headed." 

It  was  surely  not  difficult  to  say  — 

"  At  morn  or  noon  bare-headed  rows  the  guide." 


828  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

And  yet  while  we  note  these  blemishes,  many  of 
us  will  confess  that  we  like  his  uncombed  verse 
better,  oftentimes,  than  if  it  were  trimmed  more 
neatly  and  disposed  more  nicely.  When  he  is 
at  his  best,  his  lines  flow  with  careless  ease,  as  a 
mountain  stream  tumbles,  sometimes  rough  and 
sometimes  smooth,  but  all  the  more  interesting 
for  the  rocks  it  runs  against  and  the  grating  of 
the  pebbles  it  rolls  over. 

There  is  one  trick  of  verse  which  Emerson 
occasionally,  not  very  often,  indulges  in.  This 
is  the  crowding  of  a  redundant  syllable  into  a 
line.  It  is  a  liberty  which  is  not  to  be  abused  by 
the  poet.  Shakespeare,  the  supreme  artist,  and 
Milton,  the  "  mighty-mouth'd  inventor  of  harmo 
nies,"  knew  how  to  use  it  effectively.  Shelley 
employed  it  freely.  Bryant  indulged  in  it  oc 
casionally,  and  wrote  an  article  in  an  early  num 
ber  of  the  "North  American  Review  "  in  defence 
of  its  use.  Willis  was  fond  of  it.  As  a  relief 
to  monotony  it  may  be  now  and  then  allowed, 
— may  even  have  an  agreeable  effect  in  breaking 
the  monotony  of  too  formal  verse.  But  it  may 
easily  become  a  deformity  and  a  cause  of  aver 
sion.  A  humpback  may  add  picturesqueness  to 
a  procession,  but  if  there  are  too  many  hump 
backs  in  line  we  turn  away  from  the  sight  of 
them.  Can  any  ear  reconcile  itself  to  the  last 
of  these  three  lines  of  Emerson's  ? 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  329 

"  Oh,  what  is  Heaven  but  the  fellowship 
Of  minds  that  each  can  stand  against  the  world 
By  its  own  meek  and  incorruptible  will  ?  " 

These  lines  that  lift  their  backs  up  in  the  mid 
dle  —  span-worm  lines,  we  may  call  them  —  are 
not  to  be  commended  for  common  use  because 
some  great  poets  have  now  and  then  admitted 
them.  They  have  invaded  some  of  our  recent 
poetry  as  the  canker-worms  gather  on  our  elms 
in  June.  Emerson  has  one  or  two  of  them  here 
and  there,  but  they  never  swarm  on  his  leaves 
so  as  to  frighten  us  away  from  their  neighbor 
hood. 

As  for  the  violently  artificial  rhythms  and 
rhymes  which  have  reappeared  of  late  in  English 
and  American  literature,  Emerson  would  as  soon 
have  tried  to  ride  three  horses  at  once  in  a  cir 
cus  as  to  shut  himself  up  in  triolets,  or  attempt 
any  cat's -cradle  tricks  of  rhyming  sleight  of 
hand. 

If  we  allow  that  Emerson  is  not  a  born  singer, 
that  he  is  a  careless  versifier  and  rhymer,  we 
must  still  recognize  that  there  is  something  in 
his  verse  which  belongs,  indissolubly,  sacredly, 
to  his  thought.  Who  would  decant  the  wine 
of  his  poetry  from  its  quaint  and  antique-look 
ing  lagena  ?  —  Read  his  poem  to  the  ^Eolian 
harp  ("  The  Harp  ")  and  his  model  betrays  it 
self:— 


330  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  These  syllables  that  Nature  spoke, 
And  the  thoughts  that  in  him  woke 
Can  adequately  utter  none 
Save  to  his  ear  the  wind-harp  lone. 
Therein  I  hear  the  Parcfe  reel 
The  threads  of  man  at  their  humming  wheel, 
The  threads  of  life  and  power  and  pain, 
So  sweet  and  mournful  falls  the  strain. 
And  best  can  teach  its  Delphian  chord 
How  Nature  to  the  soul  is  moored, 
If  once  again  that  silent  string, 
As  erst  it  wont,  would  thrill  and  ring." 

There  is  no  need  of  quoting  any  of  the  poems 
which  have  become  familiar  to  most  true  lov 
ers  of  poetry.  Emerson  saw  fit  to  imitate  the 
Egyptians  by  placing  "  The  Sphinx "  at  the 
entrance  of  his  temple  of  song.  This  poem  was 
not  fitted  to  attract  worshippers.  It  is  not  easy 
of  comprehension,  not  pleasing  in  movement. 
As  at  first  written  it  had  one  verse  in  it  which 
sounded  so  much  like  a  nursery  rhyme  that 
Emerson  was  prevailed  upon  to  omit  it  in  the 
later  versions.  There  are  noble  passages  in  it, 
but  they  are  for  the  adept  and  not  for  the  begin 
ner.  A  commonplace  young  person  taking  up 
the  volume  and  puzzling  his  or  her  way  along 
will  come  by  and  by  to  the  verse  :  — 

"  Have  I  a  lover 

Who  is  noble  and  free  ?  — 
I  would  he  were  nobler 
Than  to  love  me." 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  331 

The  commonplace  young  person  will  be  apt  to 
say  or  think  c'est  magnifique,  mais  ce  rfest  pas 
—  V  amour. 

The  third  poem  in  the  volume,  "  The  Prob 
lem,"  should  have  stood  first  in  order.  This 
ranks  among  the  finest  of  Emerson's  poems. 
All  his  earlier  verse  has  a  certain  freshness 
which  belongs  to  the  first  outburst  of  song  in  a 
poetic  nature.  "  Each  and  All,"  "  The  Humble- 
Bee,"  "  The  Snow-Storm,"  should  be  read  before 
"  Uriel,"  "  The  World-Soul,"  or  "  Mithridates." 
"Monadnoc"  will  be  a  good  test  of  the  read 
er's  taste  for  Emerson's  poetry,  and  after  this 
"  Woodnotes." 

In  studying  his  poems  we  must  not  overlook 
the  delicacy  of  many  of  their  descriptive  por 
tions.  If  in  the  flights  of  his  imagination  he 
is  like  the  strong- winged  bird  of  passage,  in  his 
exquisite  choice  of  descriptive  epithets  he  re 
minds  me  of  the  tenui-rostrals.  His  subtle  selec 
tive  instinct  penetrates  the  vocabulary  for  the 
one  word  he  wants,  as  the  long,  slender  bill  of 
those  birds  dives  deep  into  the  flower  for  its 
drop  of  honey.  Here  is  a  passage  showing  admi 
rably  the  two  different  conditions :  wings  closed 
and  the  selective  instinct  picking  out  its  de 
scriptive  expressions ;  then  suddenly  wings  flash 
ing  open  and  the  imagination  in  the  firmament, 
where  it  is  always  at  home.  Follow  the  pitiful 


332  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON, 

inventory  of  insignificances  of  the  forlorn  being 
he  describes  with  a  pathetic  humor  more  likely 
to  bring  a  sigh  than  a  smile,  and  then  mark  the 
grand  hyperbole  of  the  last  two  lines.  The  pas 
sage  is  from  the  poem  called  "  Destiny  "  :  — 

"  Alas  !  that  one  is  born  in  blight, 
Victim  of  perpetual  slight : 
When  thou  lookest  on  his  face, 
Thy  heart  saith  '  Brother,  go  thy  ways  ! 
None  shall  ask  thee  what  thou  doest, 
Or  care  a  rush  for  what  thou  knowest, 
Or  listen  when  thou  repliest, 
Or  remember  where  thou  liest, 
Or  how  thy  supper  is  sodden  ; ' 
And  another  is  born 
To  make  the  sun  forgotten." 

Of  all  Emerson's  poems  the  "  Concord  Hymn  " 
is  the  most  nearly  complete  and  faultless,  —  but 
it  is  not  distinctively  Emersonian.  It  is  such 
a  poem  as  Collins  might  have  written,  —  it  has 
the  very  movement  and  melody  of  the  "Ode 
on  the  Death  of  Mr.  Thomson,"  and  of  the 
"  Dirge  in  Cymbeline,"  with  the  same  sweetness 
and  tenderness  of  feeling.  Its  one  conspicuous 

line, 

"  And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world," 

must  not  take  to  itself  all  the  praise  deserved 
by  this  perfect  little  poem,  a  model  for  all  of 
its  kind.  Compact,  expressive,  serene,  solemn, 
musical,  in  four  brief  stanzas  it  tells  the  story  of 


EMERSOWS  POEMS.  333 

the  past,  records  the  commemorative  act  of  the 
passing  day,  and  invokes  the  higher  Power  that 
governs  the  future  to  protect  the  Memorial-stone 
sacred  to  Freedom  and  her  martyrs. 

These  poems  of  Emerson's  find  the  readers 
that  must  listen  to  them  and  delight  in  them,  as 
the  "  Ancient  Mariner  "  fastened  upon  the  man 
who  must  hear  him.  If  any  doubter  wishes  to 
test  his  fitness  for  reading  them,  and  if  the 
poems  already  mentioned  are  not  enough  to 
settle  the  question,  let  him  read  the  paragraph 
of  "  May-Day,"  beginning,  — 

"  I  saw  the  bud-crowned  Spring  go  forth," 

"  Sea-shore,"  the  fine  fragments  in  the  "  Ap 
pendix  "  to  his  published  works,  called,  collec 
tively,  "  The  Poet,"  blocks  bearing  the  mark 
of  poetic  genius,  but  left  lying  round  for  want 
of  the  structural  instinct,  and  last  of  all,  that 
which  is,  in  many  respects,  first  of  all,  the 
"Threnody,"  a  lament  over  the  death  of  his 
first-born  son.  This  poem  has  the  dignity  of 
"  Lycidas  "  without  its  refrigerating  classicism, 
and  with  all  the  tenderness  of  Cowper's  lines 
on  the  receipt  of  his  mother's  picture.  It  may 
well  compare  with  others  of  the  finest  memorial 
poems  in  the  language,  —  with  Shelley's  "  Ado- 
nais,"  and  Matthew  Arnold's  "  Thyrsis,"  leaving 
out  of  view  Tennyson's  "  In  Memoriam  "  as  of 
wider  scope  and  larger  pattern. 


334  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

Many  critics  will  concede  that  there  is  much 
truth  in  Mr.  Arnold's  remark  on  the  want  of 
"  evolution  "  in  Emerson's  poems.  One  is  struck 
with  the  fact  that  a  great  number  of  fragments 
lie  about  his  poetical  workshop:  poems  begun 
and  never  finished;  scraps  of  poems,  chips  of 
poems,  paving  the  floor  with  intentions  never 
carried  out.  One  cannot  help  remembering  Cole 
ridge  with  his  incomplete  "  Christabel,"  and  his 
"Abyssinian  Maid,"  and  her  dulcimer  which 
she  never  got  a  tune  out  of.  We  all  know  there 
was  good  reason  why  Coleridge  should  have  been 
infirm  of  purpose.  But  when  we  look  at  that 
great  unfinished  picture  over  which  Allston  la 
bored  with  the  hopeless  ineffectiveness  of  Sisy 
phus  ;  when  we  go  through  a  whole  gallery  of 
pictures  by  an  American  artist  in  which  the 
backgrounds  are  slighted  as  if  our  midsummer 
heats  had  taken  away  half  the  artist's  life  and 
vigor ;  when  we  walk  round  whole  rooms  full  of 
sketches,  impressions,  effects,  symphonies,  invisi 
bilities,  and  other  apologies  for  honest  work,  it 
would  not  be  strange  if  it  should  suggest  a  pain 
ful  course  of  reflections  as  to  the  possibility  that 
there  may  be  something  in  our  climatic  or 
other  conditions  which  tends  to  scholastic  and 
artistic  anaemia  and  insufficiency,  —  the  opposite 
of  what  we  find  showing  itself  in  the  full-blooded 
verse  of  poets  like  Browning  and  on  the  flaming 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  335 

canvas  of  painters  like  Henri  Regnault.  Life 
seemed  lustier  in  Old  England  than  in  New 
England  to  Emerson,  to  Hawthorne,  and  to  that 
admirable  observer,  Mr.  John  Burroughs.  Per 
haps  we  require  another  century  or  two  of  accli 
mation. 

Emerson  never  grappled  with  any  considerable 
metrical  difficulties.  He  wrote  by  preference  in 
what  I  have  ventured  to  call  the  normal  respir 
atory  measure,  —  octosyllabic  verse,  in  which 
one  common  expiration  is  enough  and  not  too 
much  for  the  articulation  of  each  line.  The 
"  fatal  facility  "  for  which  this  verse  is  noted 
belongs  to  it  as  recited  and  also  as  written,  and 
it  implies  the  need  of  only  a  minimum  of  skill 
and  labor.  I  doubt  if  Emerson  would  have  writ 
ten  a  verse  of  poetry  if  he  had  been  obliged  to 
use  the  Spenserian  stanza.  In  the  simple  meas 
ures  he  habitually  employed  he  found  least 
hindrance  to  his  thought. 

Every  true  poet  has  an  atmosphere  as  much 
as  every  great  painter.  The  golden  sunshine  of 
Claude  and  the  pearly  mist  of  Corot  belonged 
to  their  way  of  looking  at  nature  as  much  as  the 
color  of  their  eyes  and  hair  belonged  to  their 
personalities.  So  with  the  poets ;  for  Words 
worth  the  air  is  always  serene  and  clear,  for 
Byron  the  sky  is  uncertain  between  storm  and 
sunshine.  Emerson  sees  all  nature  in  the  same 


336  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

pearly  mist  that  wraps  the  willows  and  the 
streams  of  Corot.  Without  its  own  character 
istic  atmosphere,  illuminated  by 

"  The  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land," 

we  may  have  good  verse  but  no  true  poem.  In 
his  poetry  there  is  not  merely  this  atmosphere, 
but  there  is  always  a  mirage  in  the  horizon. 

Emerson's  poetry  is  eminently  subjective,  — 
if  Mr.  Ruskin,  who  hates  the  word,  will  pardon 
me  for  using  it  in  connection  with  a  reference 
to  two  of  his  own  chapters  in  his  "Modern 
Painters."  These  are  the  chapter  on  "  The 
Pathetic  Fallacy,"  and  the  one  which  follows  it 
"  On  Classical  Landscape."  In  these  he  treats 
of  the  transfer  of  a  writer's  mental  or  emotional 
conditions  to  the  external  nature  which  he  con 
templates.  He  asks  his  readers  to  follow  him  in 
a  long  examination  of  what  he  calls  by  the  sin 
gular  name  mentioned,  "  the  pathetic  fallacy," 
because,  he  says,  "  he  will  find  it  eminently 
characteristic  of  the  modern  mind  ;  and  in  the 
landscape,  whether  of  literature  or  art,  he  will 
also  find  the  modern  painter  endeavoring  to 
express  something  which  he,  as  a  living  creature, 
imagines  in  the  lifeless  object,  while  the  classical 
and  mediaeval  painters  were  content  with  ex 
pressing  the  unimaginary  and  actual  qualities  of 
the  object  itself." 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  837 

Illustrations  of  Mr.  Kuskin's  "pathetic  fal 
lacy  "  may  be  found  almost  anywhere  in  Emer 
son's  poems.  Here  is  one  which  offers  itself 
without  search :  — 

"  Daily  the  bending  skies  solicit  man, 
The  seasons  chariot  him  from  this  exile, 
The  rainbow  hours  bedeck  his  glowing  wheels, 
The  storm-winds  urge  the  heavy  weeks  along, 
Suns  haste  to  set,  that  so  remoter  lights 
Beckon  the  wanderer  to  his  vaster  home." 

The  expression  employed  by  Ruskin  gives  the 
idea  that  he  is  dealing  with  a  defect.  If  he 
had  called  the  state  of  mind  to  which  he  refers 
the  sympathetic  illusion,  his  readers  might  have 
looked  upon  it  more  justly. 

It  would  be  a  pleasant  and  not  a  difficult  task 
to  trace  the  resemblances  between  Emerson's 
poetry  and  that  of  other  poets.  Two  or  three 
such  resemblances  have  been  incidentally  re 
ferred  to,  a  few  others  may  be  mentioned. 

In  his  contemplative  study  of  Nature  he  re 
minds  us  of  Wordsworth,  at  least  in  certain 
brief  passages,  but  he  has  not  the  staying  power 
of  that  long-breathed,  not  to  say  long-winded, 
lover  of  landscapes.  Both  are  on  the  most  in 
timate  terms  with  Nature,  but  Emerson  contem 
plates  himself  as  belonging  to  her,  while  Words 
worth  feels  as  if  she  belonged  to  him. 
22 


338  RALPH    WALDO   EMERSON. 

"  Good-by,  proud  world," 

recalls  Spenser  and  Raleigh.  "  The  Humble- 
Bee  "  is  strongly  marked  by  the  manner  and 
thought  of  Marvell.  Marvell's 

"  Annihilating  all  that 's  made 
To  a  green  thought  in  a  green  shade," 

may  well  have  suggested  Emerson's 

"  The  green  silence  dost  displace 
With  thy  mellow,  breezy  bass." 

"  The  Snow-Storm  "  naturally  enough  brings 
to  mind  the  descriptions  of  Thomson  and  of 
Cowper,  and  fragment  as  it  is,  it  will  not  suffer 
by  comparison  with  either. 

"  Woodnotes,"  one  of  his  best  poems,  has 
passages  that  might  have  been  found  in  Milton's 
"  Comus ;  "  this,  for  instance  :  — 

"  All  constellations  of  the  sky 
Shed  their  virtue  through  his  eye. 
Him  Nature  giveth  for  defence 
His  formidable  innocence." 

Of  course  his  Persian  and  Indian  models  be 
tray  themselves  in  many  of  his  poems,  some  of 
which,  called  translations,  sound  as  if  they  were 
original. 

So  we  follow  him  from  page  to  page  and  find 
him  passing  through  many  moods,  but  with  one 
pervading  spirit :  — 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  339 

"  Melting  matter  into  dreams, 
Panoramas  which  I  saw, 
And  whatever  glows  or  seems 
Into  substance,  into  Law." 

"We  think  in  reading  his  "  Poems  "  of  these 
words  of  Sainte-Beuve  :  — 

"  The  greatest  poet  is  not  he  who  has  done  the 
best ;  it  is  he  who  suggests  the  most ;  he,  not  all  of 
whose  meaning  is  at  first  obvious,  and  who  leaves 
you  much  to  desire,  to  explain,  to  study  ;  much  to 
complete  in  your  turn." 

Just  what  he  shows  himself  in  his  prose, 
Emerson  shows  himself  in  his  verse.  Only 
when  he  gets  into  rhythm  and  rhyme  he  lets 
us  see  more  of  his  personality,  he  ventures  upon 
more  audacious  imagery,  his  flight  is  higher  and 
swifter,  his  brief  crystalline  sentences  have  dis 
solved  and  pour  in  continuous  streams.  Where 
they  came  from,  or  whither  they  flow  to  empty 
tnemselves,  we  cannot  always  say,  —  it  is  enough 
to  enjoy  them  as  they  flow  by  us. 

Incompleteness  —  want  of  beginning,  middle, 
and  end, — is  their  too  common  fault.  His  pages 
are  too  much  like  those  artists'  studios  all  hung 
round  with  sketches  and  "  bits "  of  scenery. 
"  The  Snow-Storm  "  and  "  Sea-Shore  "  are  "  bits  " 
out  of  a  landscape  that  was  never  painted,  ad 
mirable,  so  far  as  they  go,  but  forcing  us  to  ask, 
"  Where  is  the  painting  for  which  these  scraps 


340  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

are  studies  ?  "  or  "  Out  of  what  great  picture  have 
these  pieces  been  cut  ?  " 

We  do  not  want  his  fragments  to  be  made 
wholes,  —  if  we  did,  what  hand  could  be  found 
equal  to  the  task  ?  We  do  not  want  his  rhythms 
and  rhymes  smoothed  and  made  more  melodious. 
They  are  as  honest  as  Chaucer's,  and  we  like 
them  as  they  are,  not  modernized  or  manipulated 
by  any  versifying  drill-sergeant,  —  if  we  wanted 
them  reshaped  whom  could  we  trust  to  meddle 
with  them  ? 

His  poetry  is  elemental ;  it  has  the  rock  be 
neath  it  in  the  eternal  laws  on  which  it  rests ; 
the  roll  of  deep  waters  in  its  grander  harmonies ; 
its  air  is  full  of  ^Eolian  strains  that  waken  and 
die  away  as  the  breeze  wanders  over  them  ;  and 
through  it  shines  the  white  starlight,  and  from 
time  to  time  flashes  a  meteor  that  startles  us 
with  its  sudden  brilliancy. 

After  all  our  criticisms,  our  selections,  our 
analyses,  our  comparisons,  we  have  to  recognize 
that  there  is  a  charm  in  Emerson's  poems  which 
cannot  be  defined  any  more  than  the  fragrance 
of  a  rose  or  a  hyacinth,  —  any  more  than  the 
tone  of  a  voice  which  we  should  know  from  all 
others  if  all  mankind  were  to  pass  before  us,  and 
each  of  its  articulating  representatives  should 
call  us  by  name. 


EMERSON'S  POEMS.  341 

All  our  crucibles  and  alembics  leave  unac 
counted  for  the  great  mystery  of  style.  "  The 
style  is  of  [a  part  of]  the  man  himself,"  said 
Buffon,  and  this  saying  has  passed  into  the 
stronger  phrase,  "  The  style  is  the  man." 

The  "  personal  equation  "  which  differentiates 
two  observers  is  not  confined  to  the  tower  of 
the  astronomer.  Every  human  being  is  individ 
ualized  by  a  new  arrangement  of  elements.  His 
mind  is  a  safe  with  a  lock  to  which  only  certain 
letters  are  the  key.  His  ideas  follow  in  an  order 
of  their  own.  His  words  group  themselves  to 
gether  in  special  sequences,  in  peculiar  rhythms, 
in  unlooked-for  combinations,  the  total  effect  of 
which  is  to  stamp  all  that  he  says  or  writes  with 
his  individuality.  We  may  not  be  able  to  assign 
the  reason  of  the  fascination  the  poet  we  have 
been  considering  exercises  pver  us.  But  this  we 
can  say,  that  he  lives  in  the  highest  atmosphere 
of  thought ;  that  he  is  always  in  the  presence 
of  the  infinite,  and  ennobles  the  accidents  of  hu 
man  existence  so  that  they  partake  of  the  ab 
solute  and  eternal  while  he  is  looking  at  them ; 
that  he  unites  a  royal  dignity  of  manner  with 
the  simplicity  of  primitive  nature ;  that  his 
words  and  phrases  arrange  themselves,  as  if  by 
an  elective  affinity  of  their  own,  with  a  curi- 
osa  felicitas  which  captivates  and  enthrals  the 
reader  who  comes  fully  under  its  influence,  and 


342  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

that  through  all  he  sings  as  in  all  he  says  for 
us  we  recognize  the  same  serene,  high,  pure  in 
telligence  and  moral  nature,  infinitely  precious 
to  us,  not  only  in  themselves,  but  as  a  promise  of 
what  the  transplanted  life,  the  air  and  soil  and 
breeding  of  this  western  world  may  yet  educe 
from  their  potential  virtues,  shaping  themselves, 
at  length,  in  a  literature  as  much  its  own  as  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Mississippi. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Recollections  of  Emerson's  Last  Years.  —  Mr.  Conway's 
Visits.  —  Extracts  from  Mr.  Whitman's  Journal.  —  Dr.  Le 
Baron  Russell's  Visit. —  Dr.  Edward  Emerson's  Account. 
—  Illness  and  Death.  —  Funeral  Services. 

MR.  CONWAY  gives  the  following  account  of 
two  visits  to  Emerson  after  the  decline  of  his 
faculties  had  begun  to  make  itself  obvious :  — 

"  In  1875,  when  I  stayed  at  his  house  in  Concord  for 
a  little  time,  it  was  sad  enough  to  find  him  sitting  as  a 
listener  before  those  who  used  to  sit  at  his  feet  ha 
silence.  But  when  alone  with  him  he  conversed  hi  the 
old  way,  and  his  faults  of  memory  seemed  at  times  to 
disappear.  There  was  something  striking  in  the  kind 
of  forgetfulness  by  which  he  suffered.  He  remem 
bered  the  realities  and  uses  of  things  when  he  could 
not  recall  their  names.  He  would  describe  what  he 
wanted  or  thought  of ;  when  he  could  not  recall 
'  chair '  he  could  speak  of  that  which  supports  the 
human  frame,  and  '  the  implement  that  cultivates  the 
soil '  must  do  for  plough.  — 

"  In  1880,  when  I  was  last  in  Concord,  the  trou 
ble  had  made  heavy  strides.  The  intensity  of  his 
silent  attention  to  every  word  that  was  said  was 
painful,  suggesting  a  concentration  of  his  powers 


344  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

to  break  through  the  invisible  walls  closing  around 
them.  Yet  his  face  was  serene  ;  he  was  even  cheer 
ful,  and  joined  in  our  laughter  at  some  letters  his 
eldest  daughter  had  preserved,  from  young  girls, 
trying  to  coax  autograph  letters,  and  in  one  case 
asking  for  what  price  he  would  write  a  valedictory 
address  she  had  to  deliver  at  college.  He  was  still 
able  to  joke  about  his  '  naughty  memory ; '  and  no 
complaint  came  from  him  when  he  once  rallied  him 
self  on  living  too  long.  Emerson  appeared  to  me 
strangely  beautiful  at  this  time,  and  the  sweetness  of 
his  voice,  when  he  spoke  of  the  love  and  providence 
at  his  side,  is  quite  indescribable."  — 

One  of  the  later  glimpses  we  have  of  Emerson 
is  that  preserved  in  the  journal  of  Mr.  Whitman, 
who  visited  Concord  in  the  autumn  of  1881. 
Mr.  Ireland  gives  a  long  extract  from  this  jour 
nal,  from  which  I  take  the  following :  — 

"  On  entering  he  had  spoken  very  briefly,  easily 
and  politely  to  several  of  the  company,  then  settled 
himself  in  his  chair,  a  trifle  pushed  back,  and, 
though  a  listener  and  apparently  an  alert  one,  re 
mained  silent  through  the  whole  talk  and  discussion. 
And  so,  there  Emerson  sat,  and  I  looking  at  him. 
A  good  color  in  his  face,  eyes  clear,  with  the  well- 
known  expression  of  sweetness,  and  the  old  clear- 
peering  aspect  quite  the  same." 

Mr.  Whitman  met  him  again  the  next  day, 
Sunday,  September  18th,  and  records  :  — 

"As  just  said,  a  healthy  color  in  the  cheeks,  and 


DR.  LE  BARON  RUSSELL'S   VISIT.  345 

good  light  in  the  eyes,  cheery  expression,  and  just  the 
amount  of  talking  that  best  suited,  namely,  a  word  or 
short  phrase  only  where  needed,  and  almost  always 
with  a  smile." 

Dr.  Le  Baron  Russell  writes  to  me  of  Emer 
son  at  a  still  later  period :  — 

"  One  incident  I  will  mention  which  occurred  at 
my  last  visit  to  Emerson,  only  a  few  months  before 
his  death.  I  went  by  Mrs.  Emerson's  request  to  pass 
a  Sunday  at  their  house  at  Concord  towards  the  end 
of  June.  His  memory  had  been  failing  for  some 
time,  and  his  mind  as  you  know  was  clouded,  but  the 
old  charm  of  his  voice  and  manner  had  never  left 
him.  On  the  morning  after  my  arrival  Mrs.  Emer 
son  took  us  into  the  garden  to  see  the  beautiful  roses 
in  which  she  took  great  delight.  One  red  rose  of 
most  brilliant  color  she  called  our  attention  to  espe 
cially  ;  its  '  hue  '  was  so  truly  '  angry  and  brave  '  that 
I  involuntarily  repeated  Herbert's  line,  — 

'Bids  the  rash  gazer  wipe  his  eye,'  — 

from  the  verses  which  Emerson  had  first  repeated  to 
me  so  long  ago.  Emerson  looked  at  the  rose  admir 
ingly,  and  then  as  if  by  a  sudden  impulse  lifted  his 
hat  gently,  and  said  with  a  low  bow,  '  I  take  off  my 
hat  to  it.' " 

Once  a  poet,  always  a  poet.  It  was  the  same 
reverence  for  the  beautiful  that  he  had  shown  in 
the  same  way  in  his  younger  days  on  entering 


346  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

the  wood,  as  Governor  Rice  lias  told  us  the  story, 
given  in  an  earlier  chapter. 

I  do  not  remember  Emerson's  last  time  of  at 
tendance  at  the  "  Saturday  Club,"  but  I  recollect 
that  he  came  after  the  trouble  in  finding  words 
had  become  well  marked.  "  My  memory  hides 
itself,"  he  said.  The  last  time  I  saw  him,  living, 
was  at  Longfellow's  funeral.  I  was  sitting  op 
posite  to  him  when  he  rose,  and  going  to  the  side 
of  the  coffin,  looked  intently  upon  the  face  of  the 
dead  poet.  A  few  minutes  later  he  rose  again 
and  looked  once  more  on  the  familiar  features, 
not  apparently  remembering  that  he  had  just 
done  so.  Mr.  Conway  reports  that  he  said  to  a 
friend  near  him,  "  That  gentleman  was  a  sweet, 
beautiful  soul,  but  I  have  entirely  forgotten  his 
name." 

Dr.  Edward  Emerson  has  very  kindly  fur 
nished  me,  in  reply  to  my  request,  with  informa 
tion  regarding  his  father's  last  years  which  will 
interest  every  one  who  has  followed  his  life 
through  its  morning  and  midday  to  the  hour  of 
evening  shadows. 

"  May-Day,"  which  was  published  in  1867, 
was  made  up  of  the  poems  written  since  his  first 
volume  appeared.  After  this  he  wrote  no  poems, 
but  with  some  difficulty  fitted  the  refrain  to  the 
poem  "  Boston,"  which  had  remained  unfinished 
since  the  old  Anti-slavery  days.  "  Greatness," 


DR.   EDWARD  EMERSON1  S  ACCOUNT.        347 

and  the  "Phi  Beta  Kappa  Oration"  of  1867, 
were  among-  his  last  pieces  of  work.  His  Col 
lege  Lectures,  "  The  Natural  History  of  the  In 
tellect,"  were  merely  notes  recorded  years  before, 
and  now  gathered  and  welded  together.  In 
1876  he  revised  his  poems,  and  made  the  selec 
tions  from  them  for  the  "  Little  Classic  "  edition 
of  his  works,  then  called  "  Selected  Poems." 
In  that  year  he  gave  his  "Address  to  the 
Students  of  the  University  of  Virginia."  This 
was  a  paper  written  long  before,  and  its  revision, 
with  the  aid  of  his  daughter  Ellen,  was  accom 
plished  with  much  difficulty. 

The  year  1867  was  about  the  limit  of  his 
working  life.  During  the  last  five  years  he 
hardly  answered  a  letter.  Before  this  time  it 
had  become  increasingly  hard  for  him  to  do  so, 
and  he  always  postponed  and  thought  he  should 
feel  more  able  the  next  day,  until  his  daughter 
Ellen  was  compelled  to  assume  the  correspond 
ence.  He  did,  however,  write  some  letters  in 
1876,  as,  for  instance,  the  answer  to  the  invita 
tion  of  the  Virginia  students. 

Emerson  left  off  going  regularly  to  the  "  Sat 
urday  Club"  probably  in  1875.  He  used  to  de 
pend  on  meeting  Mr.  Cabot  there,  but  after  Mr. 
Cabot  began  to  come  regularly  to  work  on  "  Let 
ters  and  Social  Aims,"  Emerson,  who  relied 
on  his  friendly  assistance,  ceased  attending  the 


348  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

meetings.  The  trouble  he  had  in  finding  the 
word  he  wanted  was  a  reason  for  his  staying 
away  from  all  gatherings  where  he  was  called 
upon  to  take  a  part  in  conversation,  though 
he  the  more  willingly  went  to  lectures  and 
readings  and  to  church.  His  hearing  was  very 
slightly  impaired,  and  his  sight  remained  pretty 
good,  though  he  sometimes  said  letters  doubled, 
and  that  "M's"  and  "N's"  troubled  him  to 
read.  He  recognized  the  members  of  his  own 
family  and  his  old  friends  ;  but,  as  I  infer  from 
this  statement,  he  found  a  difficulty  in  remem 
bering  the  faces  of  new  acquaintances,  as  is  com 
mon  with  old  persons. 

He  continued  the  habit  of  reading,  —  read 
through  all  his  printed  works  with  much  interest 
and  surprise,  went  through  all  his  manuscripts, 
and  endeavored,  unsuccessfully,  to  index  them. 
In  these  Dr.  Emerson  found  written  "  Examined 
1877  or  1878,"  but  he  found  no  later  date. 

In  the  last  year  or  two  he  read  anything  which 
he  picked  up  on  his  table,  but  he  read  the  same 
things  over,  and  whispered  the  words  like  a 
child.  He  liked  to  look  over  the  "  Advertiser," 
and  was  interested  in  the  "  Nation."  He  enjoyed 
pictures  in  books  and  showed  them  with  delight 
to  guests. 

All  this  with  slight  changes  and  omissions  is 
from  the  letter  of  Dr.  Emerson  in  answer  to  my 


DR.  EDWARD  EMERSON'S  ACCOUNT.        349 

questions.  The  twilight  of  a  long,  bright  day 
of  life  may  be  saddening,  but  when  the  shadow 
falls  so  gently  and  gradually,  with  so  little  that 
is  painful  and  so  much  that  is  soothing  and 
comforting,  we  do  not  shrink  from  following  the 
imprisoned  spirit  to  the  very  verge  of  its  earthly 
existence. 

But  darker  hours  were  in  the  order  of  nature 
very  near  at  hand.  From  these  he  was  saved  by 
his  not  untimely  release  from  the  imprisonment 
of  the  worn-out  bodily  frame. 

In  April,  1882,  Emerson  took  a  severe  cold, 
and  became  so  hoarse  that  he  could  hardly  speak. 
When  his  son,  Dr.  Edward  Emerson,  called  to 
see  him,  he  found  him  on  the  sofa,  feverish,  with 
more  difficulty  of  expression  than  usual,  dull, 
but  not  uncomfortable.  As  he  lay  on  his  couch 
he  pointed  out  various  objects,  among  others  a 
portrait  of  Carlyle  "the  good  man, — my  friend." 
His  son  told  him  that  he  had  seen  Carlyle,  which 
seemed  to  please  him  much.  On  the  following 
day  the  unequivocal  signs  of  pneumonia  showed 
themselves,  and  he  failed  rapidly.  He  still  rec 
ognized  those  around  him,  among  the  rest  Judge 
Hoar,  to  whom  he  held  out  his  arms  for  a  last 
embrace.  A  sharp  pain  coming  on,  ether  was 
administered  with  relief.  And  in  a  little  time, 
surrounded  by  those  who  loved  him  and  whom 
he  loved,  he  passed  quietly  away.  He  lived  very 


850  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

nearly  to  the  completion  of  his  eightieth  year, 
having  been  born  May  25,  1803,  and  his  death 
occurring  on  the  27th  of  April,  1882. 

Mr.  Ireland  has  given  a  full  account  of  the 
funeral,  from  which  are,  for  the  most  part,  taken 
the  following  extracts :  — 

"  The  last  rites  over  the  remains  of  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  took  place  at  Concord  on  the  30th  of  April. 
A  special  train  from  Boston  carried  a  large  number 
of  people.  Many  persons  were  on  the  street,  attracted 
by  the  services,  but  were  unable  to  gain  admission  to 
the  church  where  the  public  ceremonies  were  held. 
Almost  every  building  in  town  bore  over  its  entrance- 
door  a  large  black  and  white  rosette  with  other 
sombre  draperies.  The  public  buildings  were  heavily 
draped,  and  even  the  homes  of  the  very  poor  bore 
outward  marks  of  grief  at  the  loss  of  their  friend  and 
fellow-townsman. 

"  The  services  at  the  house,  which  were  strictly 
private,  occurred  at  2.30,  and  were  conducted  by 
Rev.  W.  H.  Furness  of  Philadelphia,  a  kindred  spirit 
and  an  almost  life-long  friend.  They  were  simple  in 
character,  and  only  Dr.  Furness  took  part  in  them. 
The  body  lay  in  the  front  northeast  room,  in  which 
were  gathered  the  family  and  close  friends  of  the  de 
ceased.  The  only  flowers  were  contained  in  three 
vases  on  the  mantel,  and  were  lilies  of  the  valley,  red 
and  white  roses,  and  arbutus.  The  adjoining  room 
and  hall  were  filled  with  friends  and  neighbors. 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  351 

"  At  the  church  many  hundreds  of  persons  were 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  procession,  and  all  the 
space,  except  the  reserved  pews,  was  packed.  In  front 
of  the  pulpit  were  simple  decorations,  boughs  of  pine 
covered  the  desk,  and  in  their  centre  was  a  harp  of 
yellow  jonquils,  the  gift  of  Miss  Louisa  M.  Alcott. 
Among  the  floral  tributes  was  one  from  the  teachers 
and  scholars  in  the  Emerson  school.  By  the  sides  of 
the  pulpit  were  white  and  scarlet  geraniums  and  pine 
boughs,  and  high  upon  the  wall  a  laurel  wreath. 

"  Before  3.30  the  pall-bearers  brought  in  the  plain 
black  walnut  coffin,  which  was  placed  before  the  pul 
pit.  The  lid  was  turned  back,  and  upon  it  was  put 
a  cluster  of  richly  colored  pansies  and  a  small  bouquet 
of  roses.  While  the  coffin  was  being  carried  in, 
'  Pleyel's  Hymn '  was  rendered  on  the  organ  by  re 
quest  of  the  family  of  the  deceased.  Dr.  James 
Freeman  Clarke  then  entered  the  pulpit.  Judge  E. 
Rockwood  Hoar  remained  by  the  coffin  below,  and 
when  the  congregation  became  quiet,  made  a  brief 
and  pathetic  address,  his  voice  many  times  trembling 
with  emotion." 

I  subjoin  this  most  impressive  "  Address " 
entire,  from  the  manuscript  with  which  Judge 
Hoar  has  kindly  favored  me  :  — 

"  The  beauty  of  Israel  is  fallen  in  its  high  -place  ! 
Mr.  Emerson  has  died;  and  we,  his  friends  and 
neighbors,  with  this  sorrowing  company,  have  turned 
aside  the  procession  from  his  home  to  his  grave,  —  to 
this  temple  of  his  fathers,  that  we  may  here  unite  in 
our  parting  tribute  of  memory  and  love. 


352  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  There  is  nothing  to  mourn  for  him.  That  brave 
and  manly  life  was  rounded  out  to  the  full  length 
of  days.  That  dying  pillow  was  softened  by  the 
sweetest  domestic  affection  ;  and  as  he  lay  down  to 
the  sleep  which  the  Lord  giveth  his  beloved,  his  face 
was  as  the  face  of  an  angel,  and  his  smile  seemed  to 
give  a  glimpse  of  the  opening  heavens. 

"  Wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken  through 
out  the  world  his  fame  is  established  and  secure. 
Throughout  this  great  land  and  from  beyond  the  sea 
will  come  innumerable  voices  of  sorrow  for  this  great 
public  loss.  But  we,  his  neighbors  and  townsmen, 
feel  that  he  was  ours.  He  was  descended  from  the 
founders  of  the  town.  He  chose  our  village  as  the 
place  where  his  lifelong  work  was  to  be  done.  It 
was  to  our  fields  and  orchards  that  his  presence  gave 
such  value ;  it  was  our  streets  in  which  the  children 
looked  up  to  him  with  love,  and  the  elders  with  rev 
erence.  He  was  our  ornament  and  pride. 

" '  He  is  gone  —  is  dust,  — 

He  the  more  fortunate  !     Yea,  he  hath  finished  ! 
For  him  there  is  no  longer  any  future. 
His  life  is  bright  —  bright  without  spot  it  was 
And  cannot  cease  to  be.     No  ominous  hour 
Knocks  at  his  door  with  tidings  of  mishap. 
Far  off  is  he,  above  desire  and  fear  ; 
No  more  submitted  to  the  change  and  chance 
Of  the  uncertain  planets.  — 

" '  The  bloom  is  vanished  from  my  life, 

For,  oh  !  he  stood  beside  me  like  my  youth ; 
Transformed  for  me  the  real  to  a  dream, 


FUNERAL   SERVICES.  353 

Clothing  the  palpable  and  the  familiar 
With  golden  exhalations  of  the  dawn. 
Whatever  fortunes  wait  my  future  toils, 
The  beautiful  is  vanished  and  returns  not.' 

"That  lofty  brow,  the  home  of  all  wise  thoughts 
and  high  aspirations,  —  those  lips  of  eloquent  music, 

—  that  great  soul,  which  trusted  in  God  and  never 
let  go  its  hope  of  immortality, —  that  large  heart,  to 
which  everything  that  belonged  to  man  was  welcome, 

—  that  hospitable  nature,  loving  and  tender  and  gen 
erous,  having  no  repulsion  or  scorn  for  anything  but 
meanness  and  baseness, —  oh,  friend,  brother,  father, 
lover,  teacher,  inspirer,  guide  !    is  there  no  more  that 
we  can  do  now  than  to  give  thee  this  our  hail  and 
fareweU !  " 

Judge  Hoar's  remarks  were  followed  by  the 
congregation  singing  the  hymns,  "  Thy  will  be 
done,"  "I  will  not  fear  the  fate  provided  by 
Thy  love."  The  Rev.  Dr.  Furness  then  read 
selections  from  the  Scriptures. 

The  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke  then  deliv 
ered  an  "  Address,"  from  which  I  extract  two 
eloquent  and  inspiring  passages,  regretting  to 
omit  any  that  fell  from  lips  so  used  to  noble 
utterances  and  warmed  by  their  subject,  —  for 
there  is  hardly  a  living  person  more  competent 
to  speak  or  write  of  Emerson  than  this  high- 
minded  and  brave-souled  man,  who  did  not 
wait  until  he  was  famous  to  be  his  admirer  and 
champion. 

23 


354  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  The  saying  of  the  Liturgy  is  true  and  wise,  that 
'  in  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death.'  But  it  is  still 
more  true  that  in  the  midst  of  death  we  are  in  life. 
Do  we  ever  believe  so  much  in  immortality  as  when 
we  look  on  such  a  dear  and  noble  face,  now  so  still, 
which  a  few  hours  ago  was  radiant  with  thought  and 
love?  'He  is  not  here:  he  is  risen.'  That  power 
which  we  knew,  —  that  soaring  intelligence,  that  soul 
of  fire,  that  ever-advancing  spirit,  —  that  cannot  have 
been  suddenly  annihilated  with  the  decay  of  these 
earthly  organs.  It  has  left  its  darkened  dust  behind. 
It  has  outsoared  the  shadow  of  our  night.  God  does 
not  trifle  with  his  creatures  by  bringing  to  nothing  the 
ripe  fruit  of  the  ages  by  the  lesion  of  a  cerebral  cell,  or 
some  bodily  tissue.  Life  does  not  die,  but  matter  dies 
off  from  it.  The  highest  energy  we  know,  the  soul  of 
man,  the  unit  in  which  meet  intelligence,  imagination, 
memory,  hope,  love,  purpose,  insight,  —  this  agent  of 
immense  resource  and  boundless  power,  —  this  has 
not  been  subdued  by  its  instrument.  When  we  think 
of  such  an  one  as  he,  we  can  only  think  of  life,  never 
of  death. 

"  Such  was  his  own  faith,  as  expressed  in  his  paper 
on  '  Immortality.'  But  he  himself  was  the  best  argu 
ment  for  immortality.  Like  the  greatest  thinkers,  he 
did  not  rely  on  logical  proof,  but  on  the  higher 
evidence  of  universal  instincts,  —  the  vast  streams  of 
belief  which  flow  through  human  thought  like  cur 
rents  in  the  ocean;  those  shoreless  rivers  which  for 
ever  roll  along  their  paths  in  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific, 
not  restrained  by  banks,  but  guided  by  the  revolutions 
of  the  globe  and  the  attractions  of  the  sun." 


FUNERAL  SERVICES.  355 


"  Let  us  then  ponder  his  words  :  — 

" '  Wilt  thou  not  ope  thy  heart  to  know 
What  rainbows  teach  and  sunsets  show  ? 
Voice  of  earth  to  earth  returned, 
Prayers  of  saints  that  inly  burned, 
Saying,  What  is  excellent 
As  God  lives,  is  permanent; 
Hearts  are  dust,  hearts'  loves  remain; 
Hearts'  love  will  meet  thee  again. 

House  and  tenant  go  to  ground 
Lost  in  God,  in  Godhead  found.'  " 

After  the  above  address  a  feeling  prayer  was 
offered  by  Rev.  Howard  M.  Brown,  of  Brook- 
line,  and  the  benediction  closed  the  exercises  in 
the  church.  Immediately  before  the  benediction, 
Mr.  Alcott  recited  the  following  sonnet,  which  he 
had  written  for  the  occasion :  — 

"  His  harp  is  silent  :  shall  successors  rise, 
Touching  with  venturous  hand  the  trembling  string, 
Kindle  glad  raptures,  visions  of  surprise, 
And  wake  to  ecstasy  each  slumbering  thing  ? 
Shall  life  and  thought  flash  new  in  wondering  eyes, 
As  when  the  seer  transcendent,  sweet,  and  wise, 
World-wide  his  native  melodies  did  sing, 
Flushed  with  fair  hopes  and  ancient  memories  ? 
Ah,  no  !     That  matchless  lyre  shall  silent  lie  : 
None  hath  the  vanished  minstrel's  wondrous  skill 
To  touch  that  instrument  with  art  and  will. 
With  him,  winged  poesy  doth  droop  and  die  ; 
While  our  dull  age,  left  voiceless,  must  lament 
The  bard  high  heaven  had  for  its  service  sent." 


356  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  Over  an  hour  was  occupied  by  the  passing  files 
of  neighbors,  friends,  and  visitors  looking  for  the  last 
time  upon  the  face  of  the  dead  poet.  The  body  \vas 
robed  completely  in  white,  and  the  face  bore  a  natural 
and  peaceful  expression.  From  the  church  the  pro 
cession  took  its  way  to  the  cemetery.  The  grave  was 
made  beneath  a  tall  pine-tree  upon  the  hill-top  of 
Sleepy  Hollow,  where  lie  the  bodies  of  his  friends 
Thoreau  and  Hawthorne,  the  upturned  sod  being 
concealed  by  strewings  of  pine  boughs.  A  border  of 
hemlock  spray  surrounded  the  grave  and  completely 
lined  its  sides.  The  services  here  were  very  brief, 
and  the  casket  was  soon  lowered  to  its  final  resting- 
place. 

"  The  Rev.  Dr.  Haskins,  a  cousin  of  the  family,  an 
Episcopal  clergyman,  read  the  Episcopal  Burial  Ser 
vice,  and  closed  with  the  Lord's  Prayer,  ending  at  the 
words,  'and  deliver  us  from  evil.'  In  this  all  the 
people  joined.  Dr.  Haskins  then  pronounced  the  ben 
ediction.  After  it  was  over  the  grandchildren  passed 
the  open  grave  and  threw  flowers  into  it." 

So  vanished  from  human  eyes  the  bodily  pres 
ence  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  and  his  finished 
record  belongs  henceforth  to  memory. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

EMERSON.  —  A  RETROSPECT. 

Personality  and  Habits  of  Life.  —  His  Commission  and  Er 
rand.  —  As  a  Lecturer.  —  His  Use  of  Authorities.  —  Resem 
blance  to  Other  Writers. —  As  influenced  by  Others.  —  His 
Place  as  a  Thinker.  —  Idealism  and  Intuition.  —  Mysticism. 
—  His  Attitude  respecting  Science.  —  As  an  American.  — 
His  Fondness  for  Solitary  Study.  —  His  Patience  and 
Amiability.  —  Feeling  with  which  he  was  regarded.  —  Emer 
son  and  Burns.  —  His  Religious  Belief.  —  His  Relations 
with  Clergymen.  —  Future  of  his  Reputation.  —  His  Life 
judged  by  the  Ideal  Standard. 

EMERSON'S  earthly  existence  was  in  the  esti 
mate  of  his  own  philosophy  so  slight  an  occur 
rence  in  his  career  of  being  that  his  relations  to 
the  accidents  of  time  and  space  seem  quite  sec 
ondary  matters  to  one  who  has  been  long  living 
in  the  companionship  of  his  thought.  Still,  he 
had  to  be  born,  to  take  in  his  share  of  the  at 
mosphere  in  which  we  are  all  immersed,  to  have 
dealings  with  the  world  of  phenomena,  and  at 
length  to  let  them  all  "  soar  and  sing  "  as  he  left 
his  earthly  half-way  house.  It  is  natural  and 
pardonable  that  we  should  like  to  know  the  de 
tails  of  the  daily  life  which  the  men  whom  we 


358  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

admire  have  shared  with  common  mortals,  our 
selves  among  the  rest.  But  Emerson  has  said 
truly  "  Great  geniuses  have  the  shortest  biogra 
phies.  Their  cousins  can  tell  you  nothing  about 
them.  They  lived  in  their  writings,  and  so  their 
home  and  street  life  was  trivial  and  common 
place." 

The  reader  has  had  many  extracts  from  Emer 
son's  writings  laid  before  him.  It  was  no  easy 
tas'k  to  choose  them,  for  his  paragraphs  are  so 
condensed,  so  much  in  the  nature  of  abstracts, 
that  it  is  like  distilling  absolute  alcohol  to  at 
tempt  separating  the  spirit  of  what  he  says  from 
his  undiluted  thought.  His  books  are  all  so  full 
of  his  life  to  their  last  syllable  that  we  might 
letter  every  volume  Emersoniana,  by  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson. 

From  the  numerous  extracts  I  have  given 
from  Emerson's  writings  it  may  be  hoped  that 
the  reader  will  have  formed  an  idea  for  himself 
of  the  man  and  of  the  life  which  have  been  the 
subjects  of  these  pages.  But  he  may  probably 
expect  something  like  a  portrait  of  the  poet  and 
moralist  from  the  hand  of  his  biographer,  if  the 
author  of  this  Memoir  may  borrow  the  name 
which  will  belong  to  a  future  and  better  equipped 
laborer  in  the  same  field.  He  may  not  unreason 
ably  look  for  some  general  estimate  of  the  life- 
work  of  the  scholar  and  thinker  of  whom  he  has 


PERSONALITY  AND  HABITS   OF  LIFE.      359 

been  reading.  He  will  not  be  disposed  to  find 
fault  with  the  writer  of  the  Memoir  if  he  men 
tions  many  things  which  would  seem  very  trivial 
but  for  the  interest  they  borrow  from  the  indi 
vidual  to  whom  they  relate. 

Emerson's  personal  appearance  was  that  of  a 
scholar,  the  descendant  of  scholars.  He  was  tall 
and  slender,  with  the  complexion  which  is  bred 
in  the  alcove  and  not  in  the  open  air.  He  used 
to  tell  his  son  Edward  that  he  measured  six  feet 
in  his  shoes,  but  his  son  thinks  he  could  hardly 
have  straightened  himself  to  that  height  in  his 
later  years.  He  was  very  light  for  a  man  of 
his  stature.  He  got  on  the  scales  at  Cheyenne, 
on  his  trip  to  California,  comparing  his  weight 
with  that  of  a  lady  of  the  party.  A  little  while 
afterwards  he  asked  of  his  fellow-traveller,  Pro 
fessor  Thayer,  "How  much  did  I  weigh?  A 
hundred  and  forty?"  "A  hundred  and  forty 
and  a  half,"  was  the  answer.  "  Yes,  yes,  a  hun 
dred  and  forty  and  a  half !  That  half  I  prize  ; 
it  is  an  index  of  better  things ! " 

Emerson's  head  was  not  such  as  Schopen 
hauer  insists  upon  for  a  philosopher.  He  wore 
a  hat  measuring  six  and  seven  eighths  on  the 
cephalometer  used  by  hatters,  which  is  equiva 
lent  to  twenty-one  inches  and  a  quarter  of  cir 
cumference.  The  average  size  is  from  seven  to 
seven  and  an  eighth,  so  that  his  head  was  quite 


360  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

small  in  that  dimension.  It  was  long  and  nar 
row,  but  lofty,  almost  symmetrical,  and  of  more 
nearly  equal  breadth  in  its  anterior  and  poste 
rior  regions  than  many  or  most  heads. 

His  shoulders  sloped  so  much  as  to  be  com 
mented  upon  for  this  peculiarity  by  Mr.  Gilfil- 
lan,  and  like  "  Ammon's  great  son,"  he  carried 
one  shoulder  a  little  higher  than  the  other.  His 
face  was  thin,  his  nose  somewhat  accipitrine, 
casting  a  broad  shadow ;  his  mouth  rather  wide, 
well  formed  and  well  closed,  carrying  a  question 
and  an  assertion  in  its  finely  finished  curves ;  the 
lower  lip  a  little  prominent,  the  chin  shapely  and 
firm,  as  becomes  the  corner-stone  of  the  counte 
nance.  His  expression  was  calm,  sedate,  kindly, 
with  that  look  of  refinement,  centring  about  the 
lips,  which  is  rarely  found  in  the  male  New  Eng- 
lander,  unless  the  family  features  have  been  for 
two  or  three  cultivated  generations  the  battle 
field  and  the  playground  of  varied  thoughts  and 
complex  emotions  as  well  as  the  sensuous  and 
nutritive  port  of  entry.  His  whole  look  was  ir 
radiated  by  an  ever  active  inquiring  intelligence. 
His  manner  was  noble  and  gracious.  Few  of  our 
fellow-countrymen  have  had  larger  opportunities 
of  seeing  distinguished  personages  than  our  pres 
ent  minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James.  In  a 
recent  letter  to  myself,  which  I  trust  Mr.  Lowell 
will  pardon  my  quoting,  he  says  of  Emerson :  — 


PERSONALITY  AND  HABITS  OF  LIFE.      361 

"  There  was  a  majesty  about  him  beyond  all 
other  men  I  have  known,  and  he  habitually 
dwelt  in  that  ampler  and  diviner  air  to  which 
most  of  us,  if  ever,  only  rise  in  spurts." 

From  members  of  his  own  immediate  family 
I  have  derived  some  particulars  relating  to  his 
personality  and  habits  which  are  deserving  of 
record. 

His  hair  was  brown,  quite  fine,  and,  till  he 
was  fifty,  very  thick.  His  eyes  were  of  the 
"  strongest  and  brightest  blue."  The  member 
of  the  family  who  tells  me  this  says  :  — 

"  My  sister  and  I  have  looked  for  many  years 
to  see  whether  any  one  else  had  such  absolutely 
blue  eyes,  and  have  never  found  them  except  in 
sea-captains.  I  have  seen  three  sea-captains  who 
had  them." 

He  was  not  insensible-  to  music,  but  his  gift 
in  that  direction  was  very  limited,  if  we  may 
judge  from  this  family  story.  When  he  was  in 
College,  and  the  singing-master  was  gathering 
his  pupils,  Emerson  presented  himself,  intending 
to  learn  to  sing.  The  master  received  him,  and 
when  his  turn  came,  said  to  him,  "  Chord ! " 
"  What  ?  "  said  Emerson.  "  Chord  !  Chord  !  I 
tell  you,"  repeated  the  master.  "  I  don't  know 
what  you  mean,"  said  Emerson.  "  Why,  sing  ! 
Sing  a  note."  "  So  I  made  some  kind  of  a  noise, 
and  the  singing-master  said,  '  That  will  do,  sir. 
You  need  not  come  again.'  " 


362  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON'. 

Emerson's  mode  of  living  was  very  simple: 
coffee  in  the  morning,  tea  in  the  evening,  animal 
food  by  choice  only  once  a  day,  wine  only  when 
with  others  using  it,  but  always  pie  at  breakfast. 
"It  stood  before  him  and  was  the  first  thing 
eaten."  Ten  o'clock  was  his  bed-time,  six  his 
hour  of  rising  until  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life, 
when  he  rose  at  seven.  Work  or  company  some 
times  led  him  to  sit  up  late,  and  this  he  could 
do  night  after  night.  He  never  was  hungry,  — 
could  go  any  time  from  breakfast  to  tea  without 
food  and  not  know  it,  but  was  always  ready  for 
food  when  it  was  set  before  him. 

He  always  walked  from  about  four  in  the 
afternoon  till  tea-time,  and  often  longer  when 
the  day  was  fine,  or  he  felt  that  he  should  work 
the  better. 

It  is  plain  from  his  writings  that  Emerson 
was  possessed  all  his  life  long  with  the  idea  of 
his  constitutional  infirmity  and  insufficiency.  He 
hated  invalidism,  and  had  little  patience  with 
complaints  about  ill-health,  but  in  his  poems, 
and  once  or  twice  in  his  letters  to  Carlyle,  he 
expresses  himself  with  freedom  about  his  own 
bodily  inheritance.  In  1827,  being  then  but 
twenty-four  years  old,  he  writes :  — 

"  I  bear  in  youth  the  sad  infirmities 
That  use  to  undo  the  limb  and  sense  of  age." 


PERSONALITY  AND  HABITS  OF  LIFE.      363 

Four  years  later :  — 

"  Has  God  on  tliee  conferred 

A  bodily  presence  mean  as  Paul's, 
Yet  made  tliee  bearer  of  a  word 

Which  sleepy  nations  as  with  trumpet  calls  ?  " 

and  again,  in  the  same  year  :  — 

"  Leave  me,  Fear,  thy  throbs  are  base, 
Trembling  for  the  body's  sake."  — 

Almost  forty  years  from  the  first  of  these  dates 
we  find  him  bewailing  in  "Terminus"  his  inher 
ited  weakness  of  organization. 

And  in  writing  to  Carlyle,  he  says :  — 

"  You  are  of  the  Anakim  and  know  nothing 
of  the  debility  and  postponement  of  the  blonde 
constitution." 

Again,  "  I  am  the  victim  of  miscellany  —  mis 
cellany  of  designs,  vast  debility  and  procrasti 
nation." 

He  thought  too  much  of  his  bodily  insufficien 
cies,  which,  it  will  be  observed,  he  refers  to  only 
in  his  private  correspondence,  and  in  that  semi- 
nudity  of  self -revelation  which  is  the  privilege  of 
poetry.  His  presence  was  fine  and  impressive, 
and  his  muscular  strength  was  enough  to  make 
him  a  rapid  and  enduring  walker. 

Emerson's  voice  had  a  great  charm  in  conver 
sation,  as  in  the  lecture-room.  It  was  never 
loud,  never  shrill,  but  singularly  penetrating. 
He  was  apt  to  hesitate  in  the  course  of  a  sen- 


364  RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON. 

tence,  so  as  to  be  sure  of  the  exact  word  he 
wanted  ;  picking  his  way  through  his  vocabulary, 
to  get  at  the  best  expression  of  his  thought,  as  a 
well-dressed  woman  crosses  the  muddy  pavement 
to  reach  the  opposite  sidewalk.  It  was  this  nat 
ural  slight  and  not  unpleasant  semicolon  paus 
ing  of  the  memory  which  grew  upon  him  in  his 
years  of  decline,  until  it  rendered  conversation 
laborious  and  painful  to  him. 

He  never  laughed  loudly.  When  he  laughed 
it  was  under  protest,  as  it  were,  with  closed 
doors,  his  mouth  shut,  so  that  the  explosion  had 
to  seek  another  respiratory  channel,  and  found 
its  way  out  quietly,  while  his  eyebrows  and  nos 
trils  and  all  his  features  betrayed  the  "  ground 
swell,"  as  Professor  Thayer  happily  called  it,  of 
the  half-suppressed  convulsion.  He  was  averse 
to  loud  laughter  in  others,  and  objected  to  Mar 
garet  Fuller  that  she  made  him  laugh  too  much. 

Emerson  was  not  rich  in  some  of  those  nat 
ural  gifts  which  are  considered  the  birthright  of 
the  New  Englander.  He  had  not  the  mechanical 
turn  of  the  whittling  Yankee.  I  once  questioned 
him  about  his  manual  dexterity,  and  he  told  me 
he  could  split  a  shingle  four  ways  with  one  nail, 
—  which,  as  the  intention  is  not  to  split  it  at  all 
in  fastening  it  to  the  roof  of  a  house  or  else 
where,  I  took  to  be  a  confession  of  inaptitude 
for  mechanical  works.  He  does  not  seem  to  have 


PERSONALITY  AND  HABITS   OF  LIFE.        365 

been  very  accomplished  in  the  handling  of  agri 
cultural  implements  either,  for  it  is  told  in  the 
family  that  his  little  son,  Waldo,  seeing  him  at 
work  with  a  spade,  cried  out,  "  Take  care,  papa, 
—  you  will  dig  youv  leg." 

He  used  to  regret  that  he  had  no  ear  for  music. 
I  have  said  enough  about  his  verse,  which  often 
jars  on  a  sensitive  ear,  showing  a  want  of  the 
nicest  perception  of  harmonies  and.  discords  in 
the  arrangement  of  the  words. 

There  are  stories  which  show  that  Emerson 
had  a  retentive  memory  in  the  earlier  part  of  his 
life.  It  is  hard  to  say  from  his  books  whether 
he  had  or  not,  for  he  jotted  down  such  a  multi 
tude  of  things  in  his  diary  that  this  was  a  kind 
of  mechanical  memory  which  supplied  him  with 
endless  materials  of  thought  and  subjects  for  his 
pen. 

Lover  and  admirer  of  Plato  as  Emerson  was, 
the  doors  of  the  academy,  over  which  was  the 

inscription  )U.7?Sas  dyeco/x,€Tp?/Tos  co-eirco,  —  Let  no 
one  unacquainted  with  geometry  enter  here,  — 
would  have  been  closed  to  him.  All  the  exact 
sciences  found  him  an  unwilling  learner.  He 
says  of  himself  that  he  cannot  multiply  seven 
by  twelve  with  impunity. 

In  an  unpublished  manuscript  kindly  sub 
mitted  to  me  by  Mr.  Frothingham,  Emerson  is 
reported  as  saying,  "  God  has  given  me  the 


366  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

seeing  eye,  but  not  the  working  hand."  His  gift 
was  insight :  he  saw  the  germ  through  its  en 
velop  ;  the  particular  in  the  light  of  the  univer 
sal  ;  the  fact  in  connection  with  the  principle ; 
the  phenomenon  as  related  to  the  law ;  all  this 
not  by  the  slow  and  sure  process  of  science,  but 
by  the  sudden  and  searching  flashes  of  imagina 
tive  double  vision.  He  had  neither  the  patience 
nor  the  method  of  the  inductive  reasoner ;  he 
passed  from  one  thought  to  another  not  by  log 
ical  steps  but  by  airy  flights,  which  left  no  foot 
prints.  This  mode  of  intellectual  action  when 
found  united  with  natural  sagacity  becomes  poe 
try,  philosophy,  wisdom,  or  prophecy  in  its  various 
forms  of  manifestation.  Without  that  gift  of 
natural  sagacity  (odoratio  qucedam  venatica),  — 
a  good  scent  for  truth  and  beauty,  —  it  appears 
as  extravagance,  whimsicality,  eccentricity,  or 
insanity,  according  to  its  degree  of  aberration. 
Emerson  was  eminently  sane  for  an  idealist.  He 
carried  the  same  sagacity  into  the  ideal  world 
that  Franklin  showed  in  the  affairs  of  common 
life. 

He  was  constitutionally  fastidious,  and  had 
to  school  himself  to  become  able  to  put  up  with 
the  terrible  inflictions  of  uncongenial  fellow 
ships.  We  must  go  to  his  poems  to  get  at  his 
weaknesses.  The  clown  of  the  first  edition  of 
"  Monadnoc "  "  with  heart  of  cat  and  eyes  of 


PERSONALITY  AND  HABITS   OF  LIFE.        367 

bug,"  disappears  in  the  after- thought  of  the  later 
version  of  the  poem,  but  the  eye  that  recognized 
him  and  the  nature  that  recoiled  from  him  were 
there  still.  What  must  he  not  have  endured 
from  the  persecutions  of  small-minded  worship, 
pers  who  fastened  upon  him  for  the  interminable 
period  between  the  incoming  and  the  outgoing 
railroad  train !  He  was  a  model  of  patience  and 
good  temper.  We  might  have  feared  that  he 
lacked  the  sensibility  to  make  such  intrusions  and 
offences  an  annoyance.  But  when  Mr.  Froth- 
ingham  gratifies  the  public  with  those  most  in 
teresting  personal  recollections  which  I  have  had 
the  privilege  of  looking  over,  it  will  be  seen  that 
his  equanimity,  admirable  as  it  was,  was  not  in 
capable  of  being  disturbed,  and  that  on  rare 
occasions  he  could  give  way  to  the  feeling  which 
showed  itself  of  old  in  the  doom  pronounced  on 
the  barren  fig-tree. 

Of  Emerson's  affections  his  home-life,  and 
those  tender  poems  in  memory  of  his  brothers 
and  his  sou,  give  all  the  evidence  that  could  be 
asked  or  wished  for.  His  friends  were  all  who 
knew  him,  for  none  could  be  his  enemy ;  and  his 
simple  graciousness  of  manner,  with  the  sincerity 
apparent  in  every  look  and  tone,  hardly  admitted 
indifference  on  the  part  of  any  who  met  him, 
were  it  but  for  a  single  hour.  Even  the  little 
children  knew  and  loved  him,  and  babes  in  arms 


368  RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON. 

returned  his  angelic  smile.  Of  the  friends  who 
were  longest  and  most  intimately  associated  with 
him,  it  is  needless  to  say  much  in  this  place. 
Of  those  who  are  living,  it  is  hardly  time  to 
speak ;  of  those  who  are  dead,  much  has  already 
been  written.  Margaret  Fuller,  —  I  must  call 
my  early  schoolmate  as  I  best  remember  her,  — 
leaves  her  life  pictured  in  the  mosaic  of  five 
artists,  —  Emerson  himself  among  the  number ; 
Thoreau  is  faithfully  commemorated  in  the  lov 
ing  memoir  by  Mr.  Sanborn  ;  Theodore  Parker 
lives  in  the  story  of  his  life  told  by  the  eloquent 
Mr.  Weiss ;  Hawthorne  awaits  his  portrait  from 
the  master-hand  of  Mr.  Lowell. 

How  nearly  any  friend,  other  than  his  broth 
ers  Edward  and  Charles,  came  to  him,  I  cannot 
say,  indeed  I  can  hardly  guess.  That  "majesty  " 
Mr.  Lowell  speaks  of  always  seemed  to  hedge 
him  round  like  the  divinity  that  doth  hedge 
a  king.  What  man  was  he  who  would  lay  his 
hand  familiarly  upon  his  shoulder  and  call  him 
Waldo  ?  No  disciple  of  Father  Mathew  would 
be  likely  to  do  such  a  thing.  There  may  have 
been  such  irreverent  persons,  but  if  any  one 
had  so  ventured  at  the  "  Saturday  Club,"  it 
would  have  produced  a  sensation  like  Brummel's 
"  George,  ring  the  bell,"  to  the  Prince  Regent. 
His  ideas  of  friendship,  as  of  love,  seem  almost 
too  exalted  for  our  earthly  conditions,  and  sug- 


HIS  COMMISSION  AND   ERRAND.  369 

gest  the  thought  as  do  many  others  of  his  char 
acteristics,  that  the  spirit  which  animated  his 
mortal  frame  had  missed  its  way  on  the  shin 
ing  path  to  some  brighter  and  better  sphere  of 
being. 

Not  so  did  Emerson  appear  among  the  plain 
working  farmers  of  the  village  in  which  he  lived. 
He  was  a  good,  unpretending  fellow-citizen  who 
put  on  no  airs,  who  attended  town-meetings,  took 
his  part  in  useful  measures,  was  no  great  hand 
at  farming,  but  was  esteemed  and  respected,  and 
felt  to  be  a  principal  source  of  attraction  to  Con 
cord,  for  strangers  cavne  flocking  to  the  place  as 
if  it  held  the  tomb  of  Washington. 

What  was  the  errand  on  which  he  visited  our 
earth,  —  the  message  with  which  he  came  com 
missioned  from  the  Infinite  source  of  all  life  ? 

Every  human  soul  leaves  its  port  with  sealed 
orders.  These  may  be  opened  earlier  or  later 
on  its  voyage,  but  until  they  are  opened  no  one 
can  tell  what  is  to  be  his  course  or  to  what  har 
bor  he  is  bound. 

Emerson  inherited  the  traditions  of  the  Bos 
ton  pulpit,  such  as  they  were,  damaged,  in  the 
view  of  the  prevailing  sects  of  the  country, 
perhaps  by  too  long  contact  with  the  "  Sons  of 
Liberty,"  and  their  revolutionary  notions.  But 
the  most  "  liberal "  Boston  pulpit  still  held  to 

24 


370  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

many  doctrines,  forms,  and  phrases  open  to  the 
challenge  of  any  independent  thinker. 

In  the  year  1832  this  young  priest,  then  a 
settled  minister,  "began,"  as  was  said  of  an 
other,  —  "  to  be  about  thirty  years  of  age."  He 
had  opened  his  sealed  orders  and  had  read 
therein  : 

Thou  shalt  not  profess  that  which  thou  dost 
not  believe. 

Thou  shalt  not  heed  the  voice  of  man  when  it 
agrees  not  with  the  voice  of  God  in  thine  own 
soul. 

Thou  shalt  study  and  obey  the  laws  of  the 
Universe  and  they  will  be  thy  fellow-servants. 

Thou  shalt  speak  the  truth  as  thou  seest  it, 
without  fear,  in  the  spirit  of  kindness  to  all  thy 
fellow-creatures,  dealing  with  the  manifold  in 
terests  of  life  and  the  typical  characters  of  his 
tory. 

Nature  shall  be  to  thee  as  a  symbol.  The  life 
of  the  soul,  in  conscious  union  with  the  Infinite, 
shall  be  for  thee  the  only  real  existence. 

This  pleasing  show  of  an  external  worli 
through  which  thou  art  passing  is  given  thee  to 
interpret  by  the  light  which  is  in  thee.  Its  least 
appearance  is  not  unworthy  of  thy  study.  Let 
thy  soul  be  open  and  thine  eyes  will  reveal  to 
thee  beauty  everywhere. 

Go  forth  with  thy  message  among  thy  fellow- 


HIS   COMMISSION  AND   ERRAND.  371 

creatures ;  teach  them  they  must  trust  them 
selves  as  guided  by  that  inner  light  which  dwells 
with  the  pure  in  heart,  to  whom  it  was  promised 
of  old  that  they  shall  see  God. 

Teach  them  that  each  generation  begins  the 
world  afresh,  in  perfect  freedom  ;  that  the  pres 
ent  is  not  the  prisoner  of  the  past,  but  that  to 
day  holds  captive  all  yesterdays,  to  compare,  to 
judge,  to  accept,  to  reject  their  teachings,  as 
these  are  shown  by  its  own  morning's  sun. 

To  thy  fellow-countrymen  thou  shalt  preach 
the  gospel  of  the  New  World,  that  here,  here  in 
our  America,  is  the  home  of  man ;  that  here  is 
the  promise  of  a  new  and  more  excellent  social 
state  than  history  has  recorded. 

Thy  life  shall  be  as  thy  teachings,  brave, 
pure,  truthful,  beneficent,  hopeful,  cheerful,  hos 
pitable  to  all  honest  belief,  all  sincere  thinkers, 
and  active  according  to  thy  gifts  and  opportu 
nities. 

He  was  true  to  the  orders  he  had  received. 
Through  doubts,  troubles,  privations,  opposition, 

he  would  not 

"  bate  a  jot 

Of  heart  or  hope,  but  still  bear  up  and  steer 
Right  onward." 

All  through  the  writings  of  Emerson  the  spirit 
of  these  orders  manifests  itself.  His  range  of 


372  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

subjects  is  very  wide,  ascending  to  the  highest 
sphere  of  spiritual  contemplation,  bordering  on 
that  "  intense  inane  "  where  thought  loses  itself 
in  breathless  ecstasy,  and  stooping  to  the  home 
liest  maxims  of  prudence  and  the  every-day  les 
sons  of  good  manners.  And  all  his  work  was 
done,  not  so  much 

"  As  ever  in  his  great  Taskmaster's  eye," 

as  in  the  ever-present  sense  of  divine  companion 
ship. 

He  was  called  to  sacrifice  his  living,  his  posi 
tion,  his  intimacies,  to  a  doubt,  and  he  gave  them 
all  up  without  a  murmur.  He  might  have  been 
an  idol,  and  he  broke  his  own  pedestal  to  attack 
the  idolatry  which  he  saw  all  about  him.  He 
gave  up  a  comparatively  easy  life  for  a  toilsome 
and  trying  one;  he  accepted  a  precarious  em 
ployment,  which  hardly  kept  him  above  poverty, 
rather  than  wear  the  golden  padlock  on  his  lips 
which  has  held  fast  the  conscience  of  so  many 
pulpit  Chrysostoms.  Instead  of  a  volume  or 
two  of  sermons,  bridled  with  a  text  and  har 
nessed  with  a  confession  of  faith,  he  bequeathed 
us  a  long  series  of  Discourses  and  Essays  in 
which  we  know  we  have  his  honest  thoughts, 
free  from  that  professional  bias  which  tends  to 
make  the  pulpit  teaching  of  the  fairest-minded 
preacher  follow  a  diagonal  of  two  forces,  —  the 


HIS  COMMISSION  AND  ERRAND.  373 

promptings  of  his  personal  and  his  ecclesiastical 
opinions. 

Without  a  church  or  a  pulpit,  he  soon  had  a 
congregation.  It  was  largely  made  up  of  young 
persons  of  both  sexes,  young  by  nature,  if  not 
in  years,  who,  tired  of  routine  and  formulae,  and 
full  of  vague  aspirations,  found  in  his  utterances 
the  oracles  they  sought.  To  them,  in  the  words 
of  his  friend  and  neighbor  Mr.  Alcott,  he 

"  Sang  his  full  song  of  hope  and  lofty  cheer." 

Nor  was  it  only  for  a  few  seasons  that  he  drew 
his  audiences  of  devout  listeners  around  him. 
Another  poet,  his  Concord  neighbor,  Mr.  San- 
born,  who  listened  to  him  many  years  after  the 
first  flush  of  novelty  was  over,  felt  the  same  en 
chantment,  and  recognized  the  same  inspiring 
life  in  his  words,  which  had  thrilled  the  souls  of 
those  earlier  listeners. 

"  His  was  the  task  and  his  the  lordly  gift 
Our  eyes,  our  hearts,  bent  earthward,  to  uplift." 

This  was  his  power, — to  inspire  others,  to  make 
life  purer,  loftier,  calmer,  brighter.  Optimism 
is  what  the  young  want,  and  he  could  no  more 
help  taking  the  hopeful  view  of  the  universe  and 
its  future  than  Claude  could  help  flooding  his 
landscapes  with  sunshine. 

"Nature,"  published  in  1836,  "the  first  clear 
manifestation  of  his  genius,"  as  Mr.  Norton  calls 


374  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

it,  revealed  him  as  an  idealist  and  a  poet,  with 
a  tendency  to  mysticism.  If  he  had  been  inde 
pendent  in  circumstances,  he  would  doubtless 
have  developed  more  freely  in  these  directions. 
But  he  had  his  living  to  get  and  a  family  to 
support,  and  he  must  look  about  him  for  some 
paying  occupation.  The  lecture-room  naturally 
presented  itself  to  a  scholar  accustomed  to  speak 
ing  from  the  pulpit.  This  medium  of  communi 
cating  thought  was  not  as  yet  very  popular,  and 
the  rewards  it  offered  were  but  moderate.  Emer 
son  was  of  a  very  hopeful  nature,  however,  and 
believed  in  its  possibilities. 

—  "I  am  always  haunted  with  brave  dreams 
of  what  might  be  accomplished  in  the  lecture- 
room,  —  so  free  and  so  unpretending  a  platform, 
—  a  Delos  not  yet  made  fast.  I  imagine  an 
eloquence  of  infinite  variety,  rich  as  conversation 
can  be,  with  anecdote,  joke,  tragedy,  epics  and 
pindarics,  argument  and  confession."  So  writes 
Emerson  to  Carlyle  in  1841. 

It  would  be  as  unfair  to  overlook  the  special 
form  in  which  Emerson  gave  most  of  his  thoughts 
to  the  world,  as  it  would  be  to  leave  out  of  view 
the  calling  of  Shakespeare  in  judging  his  liter 
ary  character.  Emerson  was  an  essayist  and  a 
lecturer,  as  Shakespeare  was  a  dramatist  and  a 
play-actor. 

The   exigencies   of   the   theatre   account   for 


AS  A  LECTURER.  875 

much  that  is,  as  it  were,  accidental  in  the  writ 
ings  of  Shakespeare.  The  demands  of  the  lec 
ture-room  account  for  many  peculiarities  which 
are  characteristic  of  Emerson  as  an  author. 
The  play  must  be  in  five  acts,  each  of  a  given 
length.  The  lecture  must  fill  an  hour  and  not 
overrun  it.  Both  play  and  lecture  must  be 
vivid,  varied,  picturesque,  stimulating,  or  the 
audience  would  tire  before  the  allotted  time  was 
over. 

Both  writers  had  this  in  common :  they  were 
poets  and  moralists.  They  reproduced  the  con 
ditions  of  life  in  the  light  of  penetrative  observa 
tion  and  ideal  contemplation  ;  they  illustrated 
its  duties  in  their  breach  and  in  their  observ 
ance,  by  precepts  and  well-chosen  portraits  of 
character.  The  particular  form  in  which  they 
wrote  makes  little  difference  when  we  come  upon 
the  utterance  of  a  noble  truth  or  an  elevated 
sentiment. 

It  was  not  a  simple  matter  of  choice  with  the 
dramatist  or  the  lecturer  in  what  direction  they 
should  turn  their  special  gifts.  The  actor  had 
learned  his  business  on  the  stage ;  the  lecturer 
had  gone  through  his  apprenticeship  in  the  pul 
pit.  Each  had  his  bread  to  earn,  and  he  must 
work,  and  work  hard,  in  the  way  open  before 
him.  For  twenty  years  the  playwright  wrote 
dramas,  and  retired  before  middle  age  with  a 


376  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

good  estate  to  his  native  town.  For  forty  years 
Emerson  lectured  and  published  lectures,  and 
established  himself  at  length  in  competence  in 
the  village  where  his  ancestors  had  lived  and 
died  before  him.  He  never  became  rich,  as 
Shakespeare  did.  He  was  never  in  easy  circum 
stances  until  he  was  nearly  seventy  years  old. 
Lecturing  was  hard  work,  but  he  was  under  the 
"  base  necessity,"  as  he  called  it>  of  constant 
labor,  writing  in  summer,  speaking  everywhere 
east  and  west  in  the  trying  and  dangerous  win 
ter  season. 

He  spoke  in  great  cities  to  such  cultivated 
audiences  as  no  other  man  could  gather  about 
him,  and  in  remote  villages  where  he  addressed 
plain  people  whose  classics  were  the  Bible  and 
the  "  Farmer's  Almanac." .  Wherever  he  ap 
peared  in  the  lecture -room,  he  fascinated  his 
listeners  by  his  voice  and  manner ;  the  music  of 
his  speech  pleased  those  who  found  his  thought 
too  subtle  for  their  dull  wits  to  follow. 

When  the  Lecture  had  served  its  purpose,  it 
came  before  the  public  in  the  shape  of  an  Essay. 
But  the  Essay  never  lost  the  character  it  bor 
rowed  from  the  conditions  under  which  it  was 
delivered ;  it  was  a  lay  sermon,  —  concio  ad  pop- 
ulum.  We  must  always  remember  what  we  are 
dealing  with.  "  Expect  nothing  more  of  my 
power  of  construction,  —  no  ship  -  building,  no 


AS  A  LECTURER.  377 

clipper,  smack,  nor  skiff  even,  only  boards  and 
logs  tied  together."  -r—  "  Here  I  sit  and  read  and 
write,  with  very  little  system,  and,  as  far  as  re 
gards  composition,  with  the  most  fragmentary 
result :  paragraphs  incompressible,  each  sentence 
an  infinitely  repellent  particle."  We  have  then 
a  moralist  and  a  poet  appearing  as  a  Lecturer 
and  an  Essayist,  and  now  and  then  writing  in 
verse.  He  liked  the  freedom  of  the  platform. 
"I  preach  in  the  Lecture-room,"  he  says,  "and 
there  it  tells,  for  there  is  no  prescription.  You 
may  laugh,  weep,  reason,  sing,  sneer,  or  pray, 
according  to  your  genius."  In  England,  he 
says,  "  I  find  this  lecturing  a  key  which  opens 
all  doors."  But  he  did  not  tend  to  overvalue 
the  calling  which  from  "  base  necessity  "  he  fol 
lowed  so  diligently.  "  Incorrigible  spouting  Yan. 
kee,"  he  calls  himself ;  and  again,  "  I  peddle 
out  all  the  wit  I  can  gather  from  Time  or  from 
Nature,  and  am  pained  at  heart  to  see  how 
thankfully  that  little  is  received."  Lecture- 
peddling  was  a  hard  business  and  a  poorly  paid 
one  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  time  when  Emerson 
was  carrying  his  precious  wares  about  the  country 
and  offering  them  in  competition  with  the  cheap 
est  itinerants,  with  shilling  concerts  and  negro- 
minstrel  entertainments.  But  one  could  get  a 
kind  of  living  out  of  it  if  he  had  invitations 
enough.  I  remember  Emerson's  coming  to  my 


378  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

house  to  know  if  I  could  fill  his  place  at  a 
certain  Lyceum  so  that  he  might  accept  a  very 
advantageous  invitation  in  another  direction.  I 
told  him  that  I  was  unfortunately  engaged  for 
the  evening  mentioned.  He  smiled  serenely,  say 
ing  that  then  he  supposed  he  must  give  up  the 
new  stove  for  that  season. 

No  man  would  accuse  Emerson  of  parsimony 
of  ideas.  He  crams  his  pages  with  the  very 
marrow  of  his  thought.  But  in  weighing  out  a 
lecture  he  was  as  punctilious  as  Portia  about  the 
pound  of  flesh.  His  utterance  was  deliberate 
and  spaced  with  not  infrequent  slight  delays. 
Exactly  at  the  end  of  the  hour  the  lecture 
stopped.  Suddenly,  abruptly,  but  quietly,  with 
out  peroration  of  any  sort,  always  with  "  a  gentle 
shock  of  mild  surprise  "  to  the  unprepared  lis 
tener.  He  had  weighed  out  the  full  measure  to 
his  audience  with  perfect  fairness. 


ffre  rd\avra 

ova'a  Kcd  eipiov,  a.fj.(f>ls  dj/e'/V/cei 
'lad£ovs,  'iva  iraialv  dei/ceo  /LUffQbv  lipyrai, 


or,  in  Bryant's  version, 

"as  the  scales 

Are  held  by  some  just  woman,  who  maintains 
By  spinning  wool  her  household,  —  carefully 
She  poises  both  the  wool  and  weights,  to  make 
The  balance  even,  that  she  may  provide 
A  pittance  for  her  babes."  — 


AS  A  LECTURER.  379 

As  to  the  charm  of  his  lectures  all  are  agreed. 
It  is  needless  to  handle  this  subject,  for  Mr. 
Lowell  has  written  upon  it.  Of  their  effect  on 
his  younger  listeners  he  says,  "  To  some  of  us 
that  long  past  experience  remains  the  most  mar 
vellous  and  fruitful  we  have  ever  had.  Emer 
son  awakened  us,  saved  us  from  the  body  of  this 
death.  It  is  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  that  the 
young  soul  longs  for,  careless  of  what  breath 
may  fill  it.  Sidney  heard  it  in  the  ballad  of 
'  Chevy  Chase,'  and  we  in  Emerson.  Nor  did  it 
blow  retreat,  but  called  us  with  assurance  of 
victory." 

There  was,  besides  these  stirring  notes,  a  sweet 
seriousness  in  Emerson's  voice  that  was  infinitely 
soothing.  So  might  "  Peace,  be  still,"  have 
sounded  from  the  lips  that  silenced  the  storm. 
I  remember  that  in  the  dreadful  war-time,  on 
one  of  the  days  of  anguish  and  terror,  I  fell  in 
with  Governor  Andrew,  on  his  way  to  a  lecture 
of  Emerson's,  where  he  was  going,  he  said,  to 
relieve  the  strain  upon  his  mind.  An  hour 
passed  in  listening  to  that  flow  of  thought,  calm 
and  clear  as  the  diamond  drops  that  distil  from 
a  mountain  rock,  was  a  true  nepenthe  for  a  care 
worn  soul. 

An  author  whose  writings  are  like  mosaics 
must  have  borrowed  from  many  quarries.  Em- 


380  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

erson  had  read  more  or  less  thoroughly  through 
a  very  wide  range  of  authors.  I  shall  presently 
show  how  extensive  was  his  reading.  No  doubt 
he  had  studied  certain  authors  diligently,  a  few, 
it  would  seem,  thoroughly.  But  let  no  one  be 
frightened  away  from  his  pages  by  the  terrible 
names  of  Plotinus  and  Proclus  and  Porphyry, 
of  Behmen  or  Spinoza,  or  of  those  modern  Ger 
man  philosophers  with  whom  it  is  not  pretended 
that  he  had  any  intimate  acquaintance.  Mr. 
George  Ripley,  a  man  of  erudition,  a  keen  critic, 
a  lover  and  admirer  of  Emerson,  speaks  very 
plainly  of  his  limitations  as  a  scholar. 

"  As  he  confesses  in  the  Essay  on  '  Books,' 
his  learning  is  second  hand ;  but  everything 
sticks  which  his  mind  can  appropriate.  He  de 
fends  the  use  of  translations,  and  I  doubt  whether 
he  has  ever  read  ten  pages  of  his  great  authori 
ties,  Plato,  Plutarch,  Montaigne,  or  Goethe,  in 
the  original.  He  is  certainly  no  friend  of  pro 
found  study  any  more  than  of  philosophical 
speculation.  Give  him  a  few  brilliant  and  sug 
gestive  glimpses,  and  he  is  content." 

One  correction  I  must  make  to  this  statement. 
Emerson  says  he  has  "  contrived  to  read  "  al 
most  every  volume  of  Goethe,  and  that  he  has 
fifty-five  of  them,  but  that  he  has  read  nothing 
else  in  German,  and  has  not  looked  into  him  for 
a  long  time.  This  was  in  1840,  in  a  letter  to 


HIS   USE   OF  AUTHORITIES.  381 

Carlyle.  It  was  up-hill  work,  it  may  be  sus 
pected,  but  he  could  not  well  be  ignorant  of  his 
friend's  great  idol,  and  his  references  to  Goethe 
are  very  frequent. 

Emerson's  quotations  are  like  the  miraculous 
draught  of  fishes.  I  hardly  know  his  rivals 
except  Burton  and  Cotton  Mather.  But  no  one 
would  accuse  him  of  pedantry.  Burton  quotes 
to  amuse  himself  and  his  reader ;  Mather  quotes 
to  show  his  learning,  of  which  he  had  a  vast 
conceit ;  Emerson  quotes  to  illustrate  some  orig 
inal  thought  of  his  own,  or  because  another  wri 
ter's  way  of  thinking  falls  in  with  his  own,  — 
never  with  a  trivial  purpose.  Reading  as  he 
did,  he  must  have  unconsciously  appropriated  a 
great  number  of  thoughts  from  others.  But  he 
was  profuse  in  his  references  to  those  from 
whom  he  borrowed,  —  more  profuse  than  many 
of  his  readers  would  believe  without  taking  the 
pains  to  count  his  authorities.  This  I  thought 
it  worth  while  to  have  done,  once  for  all,  and 
I  will  briefly  present  the  results  of  the  examina 
tion.  The  named  references,  chiefly  to  authors, 
as  given  in  the  table  before  me,  are  three  thou 
sand  three  hundred  and  ninety-three,  relating  to 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-eight  different  individ 
uals.  Of  these,  four  hundred  and  eleven  are 
mentioned  more  than  once ;  one  hundred  and 
fifty-five,  five  times  or  more ;  sixty-nine,  ten 


382 


RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 


times  or  more  ;  thirty-eight,  fifteen  times  or 
more  ;  and  twenty-seven,  twenty  times  or  more. 
These  twenty-seven  names  alone,  the  list  of 
which  is  here  given,  furnish  no  less  than  one 
thousand  and  sixty-five  references. 


Authorities. 


Number  of  times 
mentioned. 


Shakespeare ....  112 

Napoleon 84 

Plato 81 

Plutarch 70 

Goethe 62 

Swift 49 

Bacon 47 

Milton 46 

Newton 43 

Homer 42 

Socrates 42 

Swedenborg  ....  40 

Montaigne     ....  30 

Saadi 30 

Luther 30 


Authorities. 


Number  of  times 
mentioned. 


Webster 27 

Aristotle 25 

Hafiz 25 

Wordsworth      ...  25 

Burke 24 

Saint  Paul     ....  24 

Dante 22 

Shattuck  (Hist,  of  Con 
cord)  21 

Chaucer 20 

Coleridge      ....  20 

Michael  Angelo      .     .  20 
The    name   of    Jesus 
occurs    fifty  -  four 
times. 


It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  Montaigne, 
Franklin,  and  Emerson  all  show  the  same  fond 
ness  for  Plutarch. 

Montaigne  says,  "  I  never  settled  myself  to 
the  reading  of  any  book  of  solid  learning  but 
Plutarch  and  Seneca." 

Franklin  says,  speaking  of  the  books  in  his 
father's  library,  "  There  was  among  them  Plu 
tarch's  Lives,  which  I  read  abundantly,  and  I 
still  think  that  time  spent  to  great  advantage." 

Emerson  says,  "  I  must  think  we  are  more 


HIS   USE  OF  AUTHORITIES.  383 

deeply  indebted  to  hiin  than  to  all  the  ancient 
writers." 

Studies  of  life  and  character  were  the  delight 
of  all  these  four  moralists.  As  a  judge  of  char 
acter,  Dr.  Hedge,  who  knew  Emerson  well,  has 
spoken  to  me  of  his  extraordinary  gift,  and  no 
reader  of  "  English  Traits  "  can  have  failed  to 
mark  the  formidable  penetration  of  the  intellect 
which  looked  through  those  calm  cerulean  eyes. 

Noscitur  a  sociis  is  as  applicable  to  the  books 
a  man  most  affects  as  well  as  to  the  companions 
he  chooses.  It  is  with  the  kings  of  thought  that 
Emerson  mo^t  associates.  As  to  borrowing  from 
his  royal  acquaintances  his  ideas  are  very  simple 
and  expressed  without  reserve. 

"All  minds  quote.  Old  and  new  make  the 
warp  and  woof  of  every  moment.  There  is  no 
thread  that  is  not  a  twist  of  these  two  strands. 
By  necessity,  by  proclivity,  and  by  delight,  we 
all  quote." 

What  Emerson  says  of  Plutarch  applies  very 
nearly  to  himself. 

"  In  his  immense  quotation  and  allusion  we 
quickly  cease  to  discriminate  between  what  he 
quotes  and  what  he  invents.  We  sail  on  his 
memory  into  the  ports  of  every  nation,  enter 
into  every  private  property,  and  do  not  stop  to 
discriminate  owners,  but  give  him  the  praise  of 
all." 


384  RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON. 

Mr.  Ruskin  and  Lord  Tennyson  have  thought 
it  worth  their  while  to  defend  themselves  from 
the  charge  of  plagiarism.  Emerson  would  never 
have  taken  the  trouble  to  do  such  a  thing.  His 
mind  was  overflowing  with  thought  as  a  river  in 
the  season  of  flood,  and  was  full  of  floating  frag 
ments  from  an  endless  variety  of  sources.  He 
drew  ashore  whatever  he  wanted  that  would  serve 
his  purpose.  He  makes  no  secret  of  his  mode  of 
writing.  "  I  dot  evermore  in  my  endless  jour 
nal,  a  line  on  every  knowable  in  nature ;  but  the 
arrangement  loiters  long,  and  I  get  a  brick-kiln 
instead  of  a  house."  His  journal  is  "  full  of  dis 
jointed  dreams  and  audacities."  Writing  by  the 
aid  of  this,  it  is  natural  enough  that  he  should 
speak  of  his  "  lapidary  style  "  and  say  "  I  build 
my  house  of  boulders." 

"  It  is  to  be  remembered,"  says  Mr.  Euskin, 
"  that  all  men  who  have  sense  and  feeling  are 
continually  helped  :  they  are  taught  by  every 
person  they  meet,  and  enriched  by  everything 
that  falls  in  their  way.  The  greatest  is  he  who 
has  been  oftenest  aided  ;  and  if  the  attainments 
of  all  human  minds  could  be  traced  to  their  real 
sources,  it  would  be  found  that  the  world  had 
been  laid  most  under  contribution  by  the  men 
of  most  original  powers,  and  that  every  day  of 
their  existence  deepened  their  debt  to  their  race, 
while  it  enlarged  their  gifts  to  it." 


HIS    USE   OF  AUTHORITIES.  385 

The  reader  may  like  to  see  a  few  coincidences 
between  Emerson's  words  and  thoughts  and 
those  of  others. 

Some  sayings  seem  to  be  a  kind  of  family 
property.  "  Scorn  trifles "  comes  from  Aunt 
Mary  Moody  Emerson,  and  reappears  in  her 
nephew,  Ralph  Waldo.  —  "  What  right  have 
you,  Sir,  to  your  virtue  ?  Is  virtue  piecemeal  ? 
This  is  a  jewel  among  the  rags  of  a  beggar." 
So  writes  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  in  his  Lec 
ture  "  New  England  Reformers."  —  "  Hiding  the 
badges  of  royalty  beneath  the  gown  of  the  men 
dicant,  and  ever  on  the  watch  lest  their  rank  be 
betrayed  by  the  sparkle  of  a  gem  from  under 
their  rags."  Thus  wrote  Charles  Chauncy  Em 
erson  in  the  "  Harvard  Register  "  nearly  twenty 
years  before. 

"  The  hero  is  not  fed  on  sweets, 
Daily  his  own  heart  he  eats." 

The  image  comes  from  Pythagoras  via  Plutarch. 

Now  and  then,  but  not  with  any  questionable 
frequency,  we  find  a  sentence  which  recalls  Car- 
lyle. 

"  The  national  temper,  in  the  civil  history,  is 
not  flashy  or  whiffling.  The  slow,  deep  English 
mass  smoulders  with  fire,  which  at  last  sets  all 
its  borders  in  flame.  The  wrath  of  London  is 
not  French  wrath,  but  has  a  long  memory,  and 
in  hottest  heat  a  register  and  rule." 


386  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

Compare  this  passage  from  "  English  Traits  " 
with  the  following  one  from  Carlyle's  "  French 
Revolution  " :  — 

"  So  long  this  Gallic  fire,  through  its  succes 
sive  changes  of  color  and  character,  will  blaze 
over  the  face  of  Europe,  and  afflict  and  scorch 
all  men :  —  till  it  provoke  all  men,  till  it  kindle 
another  kind  of  fire,  the  Teutonic  kind,  namely ; 
and  be  swallowed  up,  so  to  speak,  in  a  day ! 
For  there  is  a  fire  comparable  to  the  burning  of 
dry  jungle  and  grass ;  most  sudden,  high-blaz 
ing  :  and  another  fire  which  we  liken  to  the 
burning  of  coal,  or  even  of  anthracite  coal,  but 
which  no  known  thing  will  put  out." 

"  O  what  are  heroes,  prophets,  men 
But  pipes  through  which  the  breath  of  man  doth  blow 
A  momentary  music." 

The  reader  will  find  a  similar  image  in  one  of 
Burns's  letters,  again  in  one  of  Coleridge's  poet 
ical  fragments,  and  long  before  any  of  them,  in 
a  letter  of  Leibnitz. 

"  He  builded  better  than  he  knew  " 

is  the  most  frequently  quoted  line  of  Emerson. 
The  thought  is  constantly  recurring  in  our  liter 
ature.  It  helps  out  the  minister's  sermon;  and  a 
Fourth  of  July  Oration  which  does  not  borrow  it 
is  like  the  "  Address  without  a  Phoenix  "  among 


HIS   USE  OF  AUTHORITIES.  387 

the  Drury  Lane  inock  poems.  Can  we  find  any 
trace  of  this  idea  elsewhere  ? 

In  a  little  poem  of  Coleridge's,  "William 
Tell,"  are  these  two  lines : 

"  On  wind  and  wave  the  boy  would  toss 
Was  great,  .nor  knew  how  great  he  was." 

The  thought  is  fully  worked  out  in  the  cele 
brated  Essay  of  Carlyle  called  "  Characteris 
tics."  It  reappears  in  Emerson's  poem  "  Fate." 

"  Unknown  to  Cromwell  as  to  me 
Was  Cromwell's  measure  and  degree  ; 
Unknown  to  him  as  to  his  horse, 
If  he  than  his  groom  is  better  or  worse." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  illustrate  this  point  any 
further  in  this  connection.  In  dealing  with  his 
poetry  other  resemblances  will  suggest  them 
selves.  All  the  best  poetry  the  world  has 
known  is  full  of  such  resemblances.  If  we  find 
Emerson's  wonderful  picture,  "  Initial  Love " 
prefigured  in  the  "  Symposium "  of  Plato,  we 
have  only  to  look  in  the  "  Phadrus "  and  we 
we  shall  find  an  earlier  sketch  of  Shakespeare's 
famous  group,  — 

"  The  lunatic,  the  lover,  and  the  poet." 

Sometimes  these  resemblances  are  nothing  more 
than  accidental  coincidences ;  sometimes  the  sim 
ilar  passages  are  unconsciously  borrowed  from 
another ;  sometimes  they  are  paraphrases,  varia- 


388  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

tions,  embellished  copies,  Editions  de  luxe  of 
sayings  that  all  the  world  knows  are  old,  but 
which  it  seems  to  the  writer  worth  his  while  to 
say  over  again.  The  more  improved  versions  of 
the  world's  great  thoughts  we  have,  the  better, 
and  we  look  to  the  great  mimjs  for  them.  The 
larger  the  river  the  more  streams  flow  into  it. 
The  wide  flood  of  Emerson's  discourse  has  a 
hundred  rivers  and  thousands  of  streamlets  for 
its  tributaries. 

It  was  not  from  books  only  that  he  gathered 
food  for  thought  and  for  his  lectures  and  essays. 
He  was  always  on  the  lookout  in  conversation 
for  things  to  be  remembered.  He  picked  up 
facts  one  would  not  have  expected  him  to  care 
for.  He  once  corrected  me  in  giving  Flora 
Temple's  time  at  Kalamazoo.  I  made  a  mistake 
of  a  quarter  of  a  second,  and  he  set  me  right. 
He  was  not  always  so  exact  in  his  memory,  as 
I  have  already  shown  in  several  instances.  An 
other  example  is  where  he  speaks  of  Quintals 
Curtius,the  historian, when  he  is  thinking  of  Met- 
tus  Curtius,  the  self-sacrificing  equestrian.  Lit 
tle  inaccuracies  of  this  kind  did  not  concern 
him  much  ;  he  was  a  wholesale  dealer  in  illus 
trations,  and  could  not  trouble  himself  about  a 
trifling  defect  in  this  or  that  particular  article. 

Emerson  was  a  man  who  influenced  others 
more  than  others  influenced  him.  Outside  of 


INFLUENCE  OF  OTHERS   UPON  HIM.        389 

his  family  connections,  the  personalities  which 
can  be  most  easily  traced  in  his  own  are  those 
of  Carlyle,  Mr.  Alcott,  and  Thoreau.  Carlyle's 
harsh  virility  could  not  be  without  its  effect  on 
his  valid,  but  sensitive  nature.  Alcott's  psycho 
logical  and  physiological  speculations  interested 
him  as  an  idealist.  Thoreau  lent  him  a  new  set 
of  organs  of  sense  of  wonderful  delicacy.  Em 
erson  looked  at  nature  as  a  poet,  and  his  natural 
history,  if  left  to  himself,  would  have  been  as 
vague  as  that  of  Polonius.  But  Thoreau  had 
a  pair  of  eyes  which,  like  those  of  the  Indian 
deity,  could  see  the  smallest  emmet  on  the  black 
est  stone  in  the  darkest  night,  —  or  come  nearer 
to  seeing  it  than  those  of  most  mortals.  Emer 
son's  long  intimacy  with  him  taught  him  to  give 
an  outline  to  many  natural  objects  which  would 
have  been  poetic  nebulae  to  him  but  for  this  com 
panionship.  A  nicer  analysis  would  detect  many 
alien  elements  mixed  with  his  individuality,  but 
the  family  traits  predominated  over  all  the  ex 
ternal  influences,  and  the  personality  stood  out 
distinct  from  the  common  family  qualities.  Mr. 
Whipple  has  well  said:  "Some  traits  of  his 
mind  and  character  may  be  traced  back  to  his 
ancestors,  but  what  doctrine  of  heredity  can  give 
us  the  genesis  of  his  genius  ?  Indeed  the  safest 
course  to  pursue  is  to  quote  his  own  words,  and 
despairingly  confess  that  it  is  the  nature  of  gen- 


390  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

ius  'to  spring,  like  the  rainbow  daughter  of 
Wonder,  from  the  invisible,  to  abolish  the  past 
and  refuse  all  history.'  " 

Emerson's  place  as  a  thinker  is  somewhat  dif 
ficult  to  fix.  He  cannot  properly  be  called  a 
psychologist.  He  made  notes  and  even  deliv 
ered  lectures  on  the  natural  history  of  the  in 
tellect;  but  they  seem  to  have  been  made  up, 
according  to  his  own  statement,  of  hints  and 
fragments  rather  than  of  the  results  of  system 
atic  study.  He  was  a  man  of  intuition,  of  in 
sight,  a  seer,  a  poet,  with  a  tendency  to  mysti 
cism.  This  tendency  renders  him  sometimes 
obscure,  and  once  in  a  while  almost,  if  not  quite, 
unintelligible.  We  can,  for  this  reason,  under 
stand  why  the  great  lawyer  turned  him  over  to 
his  daughters,  and  Dr.  Walter  Channing  com 
plained  that  his  lecture  made  his  head  ache. 
But  it  is  not  always  a  writer's  fault  that  he  is 
not  understood.  Many  persons  have  poor  heads 
for  abstractions;  and  as  for  mystics,  if  they 
understand  themselves  it  is  quite  as  much  as  can 
be  expected.  But  that  which  is  mysticism  to  a 
dull  listener  may  be  the  highest  and  most  inspir 
ing  imaginative  clairvoyance  to  a  brighter  one. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  no  reader  will  take  offence 
at  the  following  anecdote,  which  may  be  found 
under  the  title  "  Diogenes,"  in  the  work  of  his 


HIS  PLACE  AS  A   THINKER.  391 

namesake,  Diogenes  Laertius.  I  translate  from 
the  Latin  version. 

"  Plato  was  talking  about  ideas,  and  spoke  of 
mensality  and  cyatJdty  [tableity,  and  gdbletity\. 
4 1  can  see  a  table  and  a  goblet,'  said  the  cynic, 
*  but  I  can  see  no  such  things  as  tableity  and 
gobletity.'  '  Quite  so,'  answered  Plato,  '  because 
you  have  the  eyes  to  see  a  goblet  and  a  table 
with,  but  you  have  not  the  brains  to  understand 
tableity  and  gobletity.'  " 

This  anecdote  may  be  profitably  borne  in 
mind  in  following  Emerson  into  the  spheres  of 
intuition  and  mystical  contemplation. 

Emerson  was  an  idealist  in  the  Platonic  sense 
of  the  word,  a  spiritualist  as  opposed  to  a  mate 
rialist.  He  believes,  he  says,  "as  the  wise 
Spenser  teaches,"  that  the  soul  makes  its  own 
body.  This,  of  course,  involves  the  doctrine  of 
preexistence ;  a  doctrine  older  than  Spenser, 
older  than  Plato  or  Pythagoras,  having  its  cra 
dle  in  India,  fighting  its  way  down  through 
Greek  philosophers  and  Christian  fathers  and 
German  professors,  to  our  own  time,  when  it 
has  found  Pierre  Leroux,  Edward  Beecher,  and 
Brigham  Young  among  its  numerous  advocates. 
Each  has  his  fancies  on  the  subject.  The  geog 
raphy  of  an  undiscovered  country  and  the  sound 
ings  of  an  ocean  that  has  never  been  sailed  over 
may  belong  to*  romance  and  poetry,  but  they  do 
not  belong  to  the  realm  of  knowledge. 


392  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

That  the  organ  of  the  mind  brings  with  it  in 
herited  aptitudes  is  a  simple  matter  of  observa 
tion.  That  it  inherits  truths  is  a  different  prop 
osition.  The  eye  does  not  bring  landscapes  into 
the  world  on  its  retina,  —  why  should  the  brain 
bring  thoughts?  Poetry  settles  such  questions 
very  simply  by  -saying  it  is  so. 

The  poet  in  Emerson  never  accurately  differ 
entiated  itself  from  the  philosopher.  He  speaks 
of  Wordsworth's  Ode  on  the  Intimations  of  Im 
mortality  as  the  high-water  mark  of  the  poetry 
of  this  century.  It  sometimes  seems  as  if  he 
had  accepted  the  lofty  rhapsodies  of  this  noble 
Ode  as  working  truths. 

"  Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 
And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 
From  God,  who  is  our  home." 

In  accordance  with  this  statement  of  a  divine 
inheritance  from  a  preexisting  state,  the  poet 
addresses  the  infant :  — 

"  Mighty  prophet !    Seer  blest ! 
On  whom  those  truths  do  rest 
Which  we  are  toiling  all  our  lives  to  find."  — 

These  are  beautiful  fancies,  but  the  philoso 
pher  will  naturally  ask  the  poet  what  are  the 
truths  which  the  child  has  lost  between  its  cradle 
and  the  age  of  eight  years,  at  which  Words 
worth  finds  the  little  girl  of  whom  he  speaks  in 
the  lines,  — 


BIS  PLACE  AS  A   THINKER.  393 

"  A  simple  child  — 
That  lightly  draws  its  breath 
And  feels  its  life  in  every  limb,  — 
What  should  it  know  of  death  ?  " 

What  should  it,  sure  enough,  or  of  any  other  of 
those  great  truths  which  Time  with  its  lessons, 
and  the  hardening  of  the  pulpy  brain  can  alone 
render  appreciable  to  the  consciousness  ?  Un 
doubtedly  every  brain  has  its  own  set  of  moulds 
ready  to  shape  all  material  of  thought  into  its 
own  individual  set  of  patterns.  If  the  mind 
comes  into  consciousness  with  a  good  set  of 
moulds  derived  by  "  traduction,"  as  Dryden 
called  it,  from  a  good  ancestry,  it  may  be  all 
very  well  to  give  the  counsel  to  the  youth  to 
plant  himself  on  his  instincts.  But  the  in 
dividual  to  whom  this  counsel  is  given  prob 
ably  has  dangerous  as  well  as  wholesome  in 
stincts.  He  has  also  a  great  deal  besides  the 
instincts  to  be  considered.  His  instincts  are 
mixed  up  with  innumerable  acquired  prejudices, 
erroneous  conclusions,  deceptive  experiences,  par 
tial  truths,  one-sided  tendencies.  The  clearest 
insight  will  often  find  it  hard  to  decide  what  is 
the  real  instinct,  and  whether  the  instinct  itself 
is,  in  theological  language,  from  God  or  the  devil. 
That  which  was  a  safe  guide  for  Emerson  might 
not  work  well  with  Lacenaire  or  Jesse  Pomeroy. 
The  cloud  of  glory  which  the  babe  brings  with 


394  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

it  into  the  world  is  a  good  set  of  instincts,  which 
dispose  it  to  accept  moral  and  intellectual  truths, 
—  not  the  truths  themselves.  And  too  many 
children  come  into  life  trailing  after  them  clouds 
which  are  anything  but  clouds  of  glory. 

It  may  well  be  imagined  that  when  Emerson 
proclaimed  the  new  doctrine,  —  new  to  his  young 
disciples,  —  of  planting  themselves  on  their  in 
stincts,  consulting  their  own  spiritual  light  for 
guidance,  —  trusting  to  intuition,  —  without  ref 
erence  to  any  other  authority,  he  opened  the 
door  to  extravagances  in  any  unbalanced  minds, 
if  such  there  were,  which  listened  to  his  teach 
ings.  Too  much  was  expected  out  of  the  mouths 
of  babes  and  sucklings.  The  children  shut  up 
by  Psammetichus  got  as  far  as  one  word  in  their 
Devolution  of  an  original  language,  but  bekkos 
was  a  very  small  contribution  towards  a  com 
plete  vocabulary.  "  The  Dial  "  was  well  charged 
with  intuitions,  but  there  was  too  much  vague 
ness,  incoherence,  aspiration  without  energy,  ef 
fort  without  inspiration,  to  satisfy  those  who 
were  looking  for  a  new  revelation. 

The  gospel  of  intuition  proved  to  be  practi 
cally  nothing  more  or  less  than  this  :  a  new 
manifesto  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  indepen 
dence.  It  was  no  great  discovery  that  we  see 
many  things  as  truths  which  we  cannot  prove. 
But  it  was  a  great  impulse  to  thought,  a  great 


EFFECTS  OF  HIS  TEACHINGS.  395 

advance  in  the  attitude  of  our  thinking  commu 
nity,  when  the  profoundly  devout  religious  free 
thinker  took  the  ground  of  the  undevout  and 
irreligious  free-thinker,  and  calmly  asserted  and 
peaceably  established  the  right  and  the  duty  of 
the  individual  to  weigh  the  universe,  its  laws 
and  its  legends,  in  his  own  balance,  without  fear 
of  authority,  or  names,  or  institutions. 

All  this  brought  its  dangers  with  it,  like  other 
movements  of  emancipation.  For  the  Fay  ce 
que  voudras  of  the  revellers  of  Medmenham 
Abbey,  was  substituted  the  new  motto,  Pense  ce 
que  voudras.  There  was  an  intoxication  in  this 
newly  proclaimed  evangel  which  took  hold  of 
some  susceptible  natures  and  betrayed  itself  in 
prose  and  rhyme,  occasionally  of  the  Bedlam 
sort.  Emerson's  disciples  were  never  accused 
of  falling  into  the  more  perilous  snares  of  anti- 
nomianism,  but  he  himself  distinctly  recognizes 
the  danger  of  it,  and  the  counterbalancing  effect 
of  household  life,  with  its  curtain  lectures  and 
other  benign  influences.  Extravagances  of  opin 
ion  cure  themselves.  Time  wore  off  the  effects 
of  the  harmless  debauch,  and  restored  the  giddy 
revellers  to  the  regimen  of  sober  thought,  as  re 
formed  spiritual  inebriates. 

Such  were  some  of  the  incidental  effects  of 
the  Emersonian  declaration  of  independence. 


396  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

It  was  followed  by  a  revolutionary  war  of  opin 
ion  not  yet  ended  or  at  present  like  to  be.  A 
local  outbreak,  if  you  will,  but  so  was  throwing 
the  tea  overboard.  A  provincial  affair,  if  the 
Bohemian  press  likes  that  term  better,  but  so 
was  the  skirmish  where  the  gun  was  fired  the 
echo  of  which  is  heard  in  every  battle  for  free 
dom  all  over  the  world. 

Too  much  has  been  made  of  Emerson's  mys 
ticism.  He  was  an  intellectual  rather  than  an 
emotional  mystic,  and  withal  a  cautious  one. 
He  never  let  go  the  string  of  his  balloon.  He 
never  threw  over  all  hi?)  ballast  of  common  sense 
so  as  to  rise  above  An  atmosphere  in  which  a 
rational  being  could  breathe.  I  found  in  his 
library  William  Law's  edition  of  Jacob  Behmen. 
There  were  all  those  wonderful  diagrams  over 
which  the  reader  may  have  grown  dizzy,  —  just 
such  as  one  finds  on  the  walls  of  lunatic  asy 
lums,  —  evidences  to  all  sane  minds  of  cerebral 
strabismus  in  the  contrivers  of  them.  Emerson 
liked  to  lose  himself  for  a  little  while  in  the 
vagaries  of  this  class  of  minds,  the  dangerous 
proximity  of  which  to  insanity  he  knew  and  has 
spoken  of.  He  played  with  the  incommunicable, 
the  inconceivable,  the  absolute,  the  antinomies, 
as  he  would  have  played  with  a  bundle  of  jack- 
straws.  "  Brahma,"  the  poem  which  so  mysti- 


HIS  MYSTICISM.  397 

fied  the  readers  of  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly,"  was 
one  of  his  spiritual  divertisements.  To  the  aver 
age  Western  mind  it  is  the  nearest  approach  to 
a  Torricellian  vacuum  of  intelligibility  that  lan 
guage  can  pump  out  of  itself.  If  "  Rejected 
Addresses  "  had  not  been  written  half  a  century 
before  Emerson's  poem,  one  would  think  these 
lines  were  certainly  meant  to  ridicule  and  par 
ody  it. 

"The  song  of  Braham  is  an  Irish  howl; 

Thinking  is  but  an  idle  waste  of  thought, 
And  nought  is  everything  and  everything  is  nought." 

Braham,  Hazlitt  might  have  said,  is  so  obviously 
the  anagram  of  Brahma  that  dulness  itself  could 
not  mistake  the  object  intended. 

Of  course  no  one  can  hold  Emerson  respon 
sible  for  the  "  Yoga  "  doctrine  of  Brahmanism, 
which  he  has  amused  himself  with  putting  in 
verse.  The  oriental  side  of  Emerson's  nature 
delighted  itself  in  these  narcotic  dreams,  born 
in  the  land  of  the  poppy  and  of  hashish.  They 
lend  a  peculiar  charm  to  his  poems,  but  it  is  not 
worth  while  to  try  to  construct  a  philosophy  out 
of  them.  The  knowledge,  if  knowledge  it  be, 
of  the  mystic  is  not  transmissible.  It  is  not 
cumulative ;  it  begins  and  ends  with  the  solitary 
dreamer,  and  the  next  who  follows  him  has  to 
build  his  own  cloud-castle  as  if  it  were  the  first 
aerial  edifice  that  a  human  soul  had  ever  con 
structed. 


398  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

Some  passages  of  "Nature,"  "The  Over-Soul," 
"The  Sphinx,"  "Uriel,"  illustrate  sufficiently 
this  mood  of  spiritual  exaltation.  Emerson's 
calm  temperament  never  allowed  it  to  reach 
the  condition  he  sometimes  refers  to,  —  that  of 
ecstasy.  The  passage  in  "  Nature  "  where  he  says 
"  I  become  a  transparent  eyeball "  is  about  as 
near  it  as  he  ever  came.  This  was  almost  too 
much  for  some  of  his  admirers  and  worshippers. 
One  of  his  most  ardent  and  faithful  followers, 
whose  gifts  as  an  artist  are  well  known,  mounted 
the  eyeball  on  legs,  and  with  its  cornea  in  front 
for  a  countenance  and  its  optic  nerve  project 
ing  behind  as  a  queue,  the  spiritual  cyclops  was 
shown  setting  forth  on  his  travels. 

Emerson's  reflections  in  the  "  transcendental  " 
mood  do  beyond  question  sometimes  irresistibly 
suggest  the  close  neighborhood  of  the  sublime 
to  the  ridiculous.  But  very  near  that  precipitous 
border  line  there  is  a  charmed  region  where,  if 
the  statelier  growths  of  philosophy  die  out  and 
disappear,  the  flowers  of  poetry  next  the  very 
edge  of  the  chasm  have  a  peculiar  and  mysteri 
ous  beauty.  "  Uriel "  is  a  poem  which  finds 
itself  perilously  near  to  the  gulf  of  unsounded 
obscurity,  and  has,  I  doubt  not,  provoked  the 
mirth  of  profane  readers;  but  read  in  a  lucid 
moment,  it  is  just  obscure  enough  and  just  sig 
nificant  enough  to  give  the  voltaic  thrill  which 


HIS  MYSTICISM.  399 

comes  from  the  sudden  contacts  of  the  highest 
imaginative  conceptions. 

Human  personality  presented  itself  to  Emer 
son  as  a  passing  phase  of  universal  being.  Born 
of  the  Infinite,  to  the  Infinite  it  was  to  return. 
Sometimes  he  treats  his  own  personality  as  inter 
changeable  with  objects  in  nature,  —  he  would 
put  it  off  like  a  garment  and  clothe  himself  in 
the  landscape.  Here  is  a  curious  extract  from 
"  The  Adirondacs,"  in  which  the  reader  need  not 
stop  to  notice  the  parallelism  with  Byron's  — 

"  The  sky  is  changed,  —  and  such  a  change  !  O  night 
And  storm  and  darkness,  ye  are  wondrous  strong."  — 

Now  Emerson :  — 

"  And  presently  the  sky  is  changed  ;  O  world  ! 
What  pictures  and  what  harmonies  are  thine  ! 
The  clouds  are  rich  and  dark,  the  air  serene, 
So  like  the  soul  of  me,  what  if 't  were  me  ?  " 

We  find  this  idea  of  confused  personal  identity 
also  in  a  brief  poem  printed  among  the  "  Trans 
lations  "  in  the  Appendix  to  Emerson's  Poems. 
These  are  the  last  two  lines  of  "  The  Flute,  from 
Hilali":  — 

"  Saying,  Sweetheart !  the  old  mystery  remains, 
If  I  am  I  ;  thou,  thou,  or  thou  art  I  ?  " 

The  same  transfer  of  personality  is  hinted  in 
the  line  of  Shelley's  "  Ode  to  the  West  Wind  " : 

"  Be  thou,  Spirit  fierce, 
My  spirit  !     Be  thou  me,  impetuous  one  ! " 


400  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

Once  more,  how  fearfully  near  the  abyss  of  the 
ridiculous  !  A  few  drops  of  alcohol  bring  about 
a  confusion  of  mind  not  unlike  this  poetical 
metempsychosis. 

The  laird  of  Balnamoon  had  been  at  a  dinner 
where  they  gave  him  cherry-brandy  instead  of 
port  wine.  In  driving  home  over  a  wild  tract 
of  land  called  Munrimmon  Moor  his  hat  and 
wig  blew  off,  and  his  servant  got  out  of  the  gig 
and  brought  them  to  him.  The  hat  he  recog 
nized,  but  not  the  wig.  "  It 's  no  my  wig,  Hairy 
[Harry],  lad;  it's  no  my  wig,"  and  he  would 
not  touch  it.  At  last  Harry  lost  his  patience : 
"  Ye  'd  better  tak'  it,  sir,  for  there  's  nae  waile 
[choice]  o'  wigs  on  Munrimmon  Moor."  And 
in  our  earlier  days  we  used  to  read  of  the  be 
wildered  market-woman,  whose  Ego  was  so  ob 
scured  when  she  awoke  from  her  slumbers  that 
she  had  to  leave  the  question  of  her  personal 
identity  to  the  instinct  of  her  four-footed  com 
panion  :  — 

"  If  it  be  I,  he  '11  wag  his  little  tail ; 
And  if  it  be  not  I,  he  '11  loudly  bark  and  wail." 

I  have  not  lost  my  reverence  for  Emerson  in 
showing  one  of  his  fancies  for  a  moment  in  the 
distorting  mirror  of  the  ridiculous.  He  would 
doubtless  have  smiled  with  me  at  the  reflection, 
for  he  had  a  keen  sense  of  humor.  But  I  take 
the  opportunity  to  disclaim  a  jesting  remark 


HIS  ATTITUDE  RESPECTING  SCIENCE.     401 

about  "  a  foresmell  of  the  Infinite "  which  Mr. 
Conway  has  attributed  to  me,  who  am  innocent 
of  all  connection  with  it. 

The  mystic  appeals  to  those  only  who  have  an 
ear  for  the  celestial  concords,  as  the  musician 
only  appeals  to  those  who  have  the  special  en 
dowment  which  enables  them  to  understand  his 
compositions.  It  is  not  for  organizations  un 
tuned  to  earthly  music  to  criticise  the  great 
composers,  or  for  those  who  are  deaf  to  spiritual 
harmonies  to  criticise  the  higher  natures  which 
lose  themselves  in  the  strains  of  divine  contem 
plation.  The  bewildered  reader  must  not  forget 
that  passage  of  arms,  previously  mentioned,  be 
tween  Plato  and  Diogenes. 

Emerson  looked  rather  askance  at  Science  in 
his  early  days.  I  remember  that  his  brother 
Charles  had  something  to  say  in  the  "  Harvard 
Register "  (1828)  about  its  disenchantments. 
I  suspect  the  prejudice  may  have  come  partly 
from  Wordsworth.  Compare  this  verse  of  his 
with  the  lines  of  Emerson's  which  follow  it. 

"  Physician  art  thou,  one  all  eyes  ; 
Philosopher,  a  fingering  slave, 
One  that  would  peep  and  botanize 
Upon  his  mother's  grave  ?  " 

Emerson's  lines  are  to  be  found  near  the  end 
of  the  Appendix  in  the  new  edition  of  his  works. 

26 


402  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

"  Philosophers  are  lined  with  eyes  within, 
And,  being  so,  the  sage  unmakes  the  man. 
In  love  he  cannot  therefore  cease  his  trade  ; 
Scarce  the  first  blush  has  overspread  his  cheek, 
He  feels  it,  introverts  his  learned  eye 
To  catch  the  unconscious  heart  in  the  very  act. 
His  mother  died,  —  the  only  friend  he  had,  — 
Some  tears  escaped,  but  his  philosophy 
Couched  like  a  cat,  sat  watching  close  behind 
And  throttled  all  his  passion.     Is  't  not  like 
That  devil-spider  that  devours  her  mate 
Scarce  freed  from  her  embraces  ?  " 

The  same  feeling  comes  out  in  the  Poem 
"Blight,"  where  he  says  the  "young  scholars 
who  invade  our  hills  " 

"  Love  not  the  flower  they  pluck,  and  know  it  not, 
And  all  their  botany  is  Latin  names  ; " 

and  in  "  The  Walk,"  where  the  "  learned  men  " 
with  their  glasses  are  contrasted  with  the  sons 
of  Nature,  —  the  poets  are  no  doubt  meant,  — 
much  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  microscopic 
observers.  Emerson's  mind  was  very  far  from 
being  of  the  scientific  pattern.  Science  is  quan 
titative, —  loves  the  foot-rule  and  the  balance, 
—  methodical,  exhaustive,  indifferent  to  the  beau 
tiful  as  such.  The  poet  is  curious,  asks  all  man 
ner  of  questions,  and  never  thinks  of  waiting  for 
the  answer,  still  less  of  torturing  Nature  to  get 
at  it.  Emerson  wonders,  for  instance,  — 

"  Why  Nature  loves  the  number  five," 


HIS  STYLE.  408 

but  leaves  his  note  of  interrogation  without 
troubling  himself  any  farther.  He  must  have 
picked  up  some  wood-craft  and  a  little  botany 
from  Thoreau,  and  a  few  chemical  notions  from 
his  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Jackson,  whose  name  is 
associated  with  the  discovery  of  artificial  anaes 
thesia.  It  seems  probable  that  the  genial  com 
panionship  of  Agassiz,  who  united  with  his  scien 
tific  genius,  learning,  and  renown,  most  delightful 
social  qualities,  gave  him  a  kinder  feeling  to  men 
of  science  and  their  pursuits  than  he  had  enter 
tained  before  that  great  master  came  among  us. 
At  any  rate  he  avails  himself  of  the  facts  drawn 
from  their  specialties  without  scruple  when  they 
will  serve  his  turn.  But  he  loves  the  poet  al 
ways  better  than  the  scientific  student  of  nature. 
In  his  Preface  to  the  Poems  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Chan- 
ning,  he  says :  — 

"  Here  is  a  naturalist  who  sees  the  flower  and 
the  bud  with  a  poet's  curiosity  and  awe,  and 
does  not  count  the  stamens  in  the  aster,  nor  the 
feathers  in  the  wood-thrush,  but  rests  in  the  sur 
prise  and  affection  they  awake."  — 

This  was  Emerson's  own  instinctive  attitude 
to  all  the  phenomena  of  nature. 

Emerson's  style  is  epigrammatic,  incisive,  au 
thoritative,  sometimes  quaint,  never  obscure,  ex 
cept  when  he  is  handling  nebulous  subjects. 


404  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

His  paragraphs  are  full  of  brittle  sentences  that 
break  apart  and  are  independent  units,  like  the 
fragments  of  a  coral  colony.  His  imagery  is 
frequently  daring,  leaping  from  the  concrete  to 
the  abstract,  from  the  special  to  the  general  and 
universal,  and  vice  versa,  with  a  bound  that  is 
like  a  flight.  Here  are  a  few  specimens  of  his 
pleasing  audacities :  — 

"  There  is  plenty  of  wild  azote  and  carbon  un 
appropriated,  but  it  is  naught  till  we  have  made 
it  up  into  loaves  and  soup."  — 

"  He  arrives  at  the  sea-shore  and  a  sumptuous 
ship  has  floored  and  carpeted  for  him  the  stormy 
Atlantic."  — 

"  If  we  weave  a  yard  of  tape  in  all  humility 
and  as  well  as  we  can,  long  hereafter  we  shall 
see  it  was  no  cotton  tape  at  all  but  some  galaxy 
which  we  braided,  and  that  the  threads  were 
Time  and  Nature."  — 

"Tapping  the  tempest  for  a  little  side 
wind."  — 

"The  locomotive  and  the  steamboat,  like 
enormous  shuttles,  shoot  every  day  across  the 
thousand  various  threads  of  national  descent 
and  employment  and  bind  them  fast  in  one 
web."  — 

He  is  fond  of  certain  archaisms  and  unusual 
phrases.  He  likes  the  expression  "  mother-wit," 
which  he  finds  in  Spenser,  Marlowe,  Shake- 


HIS  STYLE.  405 

speare,  and  other  old  writers.  He  often  uses 
the  word  "  husband  "  in  its  earlier  sense  of  econ 
omist.  His  use  of  the  word  "  haughty  "  is  so 
fitting,  and  it  sounds  so  nobly  from  his  lips,  that 
we  could  wish  its  employment  were  forbidden 
henceforth  to  voices  which  vulgarize  it.  But  his 
special,  constitutional,  word  is  "  fine,"  meaning 
something  like  dainty,  as  Shakespeare  uses  it,  — 
"  my  dainty  Ariel,"  —  "  fine  Ariel. "  It  belongs 
to  his  habit  of  mind  and  body  as  "  faint "  and 
"  swoon  "  belong  to  Keats.  This  word  is  one  of 
the  ear-marks  by  which  Emerson's  imitators  are 
easily  recognized.  "Melioration"  is  another  fa 
vorite  word  of  Emerson's.  A  clairvoyant  could 
spell  out  some  of  his  most  characteristic  traits 
by  the  aid  of  his  use  of  these  three  words ;  his 
inborn  fastidiousness,  subdued  and  kept  out  of 
sight  by  his  large  charity  and  his  good  breed 
ing,  showed  itself  in  his  liking  for  the  word 
"  haughty  ;  "  his  exquisite  delicacy  by  his  fond 
ness  for  the  word  "  fine,"  with  a  certain  shade 
of  meaning ;  his  optimism  in  the  frequent  recur 
rence  of  the  word  "  melioration." 

We  must  not  find  fault  with  his  semi-detached 
sentences  until  we  quarrel  with  Solomon  and 
criticise  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  "  point 
and  surprise  "  which  he  speaks  of  as  character 
izing  the  style  of  Plutarch  belong  eminently  to 
bis  own.  His  fertility  of  illustrative  imagery  is 


406  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

very  great.  His  images  are  noble,  or,  if  bor 
rowed  from  humble  objects,  ennobled  by  his 
handling.  He  throws  his  royal  robe  over  a 
milking -stool  and  it  becomes  a  throne.  But 
chiefly  he  chooses  objects  of  comparison  grand 
in  themselves.  He  deals  with  the  elements  at 
first  hand.  Such  delicacy  of  treatment,  with 
such  breadth  and  force  of  effect,  is  hard  to 
match  anywhere,  and  we  know  him  by  his  style 
at  sight.  It  is  as  when  the  slight  fingers  of  a 
girl  touch  the  keys  of  some  mighty  and  many- 
voiced  organ,  and  send  its  thunders  rolling  along 
the  aisles  and  startling  the  stained  windows  of  a 
great  cathedral.  We  have  seen  him  as  an  un 
pretending  lecturer.  We  follow  him  round  as 
he  "  peddles  out  all  the  wit  he  can  gather  from 
Time  or  from  Nature,"  and  we  find  that  "  he  has 
changed  his  market  cart  into  a  chariot  of  the 
sun,"  and  is  carrying  about  the  morning  light  as 
merchandise. 

Emerson  was  as  loyal  an  American,  as  thor 
ough  a  New  Englander,  as  home-loving  a  citizen, 
as  ever  lived.  He  arraigned  his  countrymen 
sharply  for  their  faults.  Mr.  Arnold  made  one 
string  of  his  epithets  familiar  to  all  of  us, — 
"  This  great,  intelligent,  sensual,  and  avaricious 
America."  This  was  from  a  private  letter  to 
Carlyle.  In  his  Essay,  "  Works  and  Days,"  he 


AS  AN  AMERICAN.  407 

is  quite  as  outspoken  :  "  This  mendicant  America, 
this  curious,  peering,  itinerant,  imitative  Amer 
ica."  "  I  see  plainly,"  he  says,  "  that  our  society 
is  as  bigoted  to  the  respectabilities  of  religion 
and  education  as  yours."  "  The  war,"  he  says, 
"  gave  back  integrity  to  this  erring  and  immoral 
nation."  All  his  life  long  he  recognized  the 
faults  and  errors  of  the  new  civilization.  All 
his  life  long  he  labored  diligently  and  lovingly 
to  correct  them.  To  the  dark  prophecies  of 
Carlyle,  which  came  wailing  to  him  across  the 
ocean,  he  answered  with  ever  hopeful  and 
cheerful  anticipations.  "Here,"  he  said,  in 
words  I  have  already  borrowed,  "is  the  home 
of  man  —  here  is  the  promise  of  a  new  and 
more  excellent  social  state  than  history  has  re 
corded." 

Such  a  man  as  Emerson  belongs  to  no  one 
town  or  province  or  continent ;  he  is  the  common 
property  of  mankind ;  and  yet  we  love  to  think 
of  him  as  breathing  the  same  air  and  treading 
the  same  soil  that  we  and  our  fathers  and  our 
children  have  breathed  and  trodden.  So  it 
pleases  us  to  think  how  fondly  he  remembered 
his  birthplace ;  and  by  the  side  of  Franklin's 
bequest  to  his  native  city  we  treasure  that  golden 
verse  of  Emerson's :  — 

"  A  blessing  through  the  ages  thus 
Shield  all  thy  roofs  and  towers, 


408  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

GOD  WITH  THE  FATHERS,  so  WITH  us, 
Thou  darling  town  of  ours  !  " 

Emerson  sympathized  with  all  generous  public 
movements,  but  he  was  not  fond  of  working  in 
associations,  though  he  liked  well  enough  to  at 
tend  their  meetings  as  a  listener  and  looker-on. 
His  study  was  his  workshop,  and  he  preferred  to 
labor  in  solitude.  When  he  became  famous  he 
paid  the  penalty  of  celebrity  in  frequent  inter 
ruptions  by  those  "  devastators  of  the  day  "  who 
sought  him  in  his  quiet  retreat.  His  courtesy 
and  kindness  to  his  visitors  were  uniform  and  re 
markable.  Poets  who  come  to  recite  their  verses 
and  reformers  who  come  to  explain  their  projects 
are  among  the  most  formidable  of  earthly  visi 
tations.  Emerson  accepted  his  martyrdom  with 
meek  submission ;  it  was  a  martyrdom  in  detail, 
but  collectively  its  petty  tortures  might  have 
satisfied  a  reasonable  inquisitor  as  the  punish 
ment  of  a  moderate  heresy.  Except  in  that 
one  phrase  above  quoted  he  never  complained 
of  his  social  oppressors,  so  far  as  I  remember, 
in  his  writings.  His  perfect  amiability  was  one 
of  his  most  striking  characteristics,  and  in  a  na 
ture  fastidious  as  was  his  in  its  whole  organiza 
tion,  it  implied  a  self  -  command  worthy  of  ad 
miration. 

The  natural  purity  and  elevation  of  Emer- 


EMERSON  AND  BURNS.  409 

son's  character  show  themselves  in  all  that  he 
writes.  His  life  corresponded  to  the  ideal  we 
form  of  him  from  his  writings.  This  it  was 
which  made  him  invulnerable  amidst  all  the 
fierce  conflicts  his  gentle  words  excited.  His 
white  shield  was  so  spotless  that  the  least  scru 
pulous  combatants  did  not  like  to  leave  their  de 
facing  marks  upon  it.  One  would  think  he  was 
protected  by  some  superstition  like  that  which 
Voltaire  refers  to  as  existing  about  Boileau,  — 

"  Ne  disons  pas  mal  de  Nicolas,  —  cela  porte  malheur." 

(Don't  let  us  abuse  Nicolas,  —  it  brings  ill  luck.) 
The  cooped-up  dogmatists  whose  very  citadel  of 
belief  he  was  attacking,  and  who  had  their 
hot  water  and  boiling  pitch  and  flaming  brim 
stone  ready  for  the  assailants  of  their  outer  de 
fences,  withheld  their  missiles  from  him,  and  even 
sometimes,  in  a  movement  of  involuntary  human 
sympathy,  sprinkled  him  with  rose-water.  His 
position  in  our  Puritan  New  England  was  in 
some  respects  like  that  of  Burns  in  Presbyterian 
Scotland.  The  dour  Scotch  ministers  and  elders 
could  not  cage  their  minstrel,  and  they  could  not 
clip  his  wings ;  and  so  they  let  this  morning  lark 
rise  above  their  theological  mists,  and  sing  to 
them  at  heaven's  gate,  until  he  had  softened  all 
their  hearts  and  might  nestle  in  their  bosoms 
and  find  his  perch  on  "  the  big  ha'  bible,"  if  he 


410  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

would,  —  and  as  he  did.  So  did  the  music  of 
Emerson's  words  and  life  steal  into  the  hearts 
of  our  stern  New  England  theologians,  and  soften 
them  to  a  temper  which  would  have  seemed  trea 
sonable  weakness  to  their  stiff-kneed  forefathers. 
When  a  man  lives  a  life  commended  by  all  the 
Christian  virtues,  enlightened  persons  are  not  so 
apt  to  cavil  at  his  particular  beliefs  or  unbeliefs 
as  in  former  generations.  We  do,  however,  wish 
to  know  what  are  the  convictions  of  any  such 
persons  in  matters  of  highest  interest  about 
which  there  is  so  much  honest  difference  of 
opinion  in  this  age  of  deep  and  anxious  and  de 
vout  religious  scepticism. 

It  was  a  very  wise  and  a  very  prudent  course 
which  was  taken  by  Simonides,  when  he  was 
asked  by  his  imperial  master  to  give  him  his 
ideas  about  the  Deity.  He  begged  for  a  day  to 
consider  the  question,  but  when  the  time  came 
for  his  answer  he  wanted  two  days  more,  and  at 
the  end  of  these,  four  days.  In  short,  the  more 
he  thought  about  it,  the  more  he  found  himself 
perplexed. 

The  name  most  frequently  applied  to  Emer 
son's  form  of  belief  is  Pantheism.  How  many 
persons  who  shudder  at  the  sound  of  this  word 
can  tell  the  difference  between  that  doctrine  and 
their  own  professed  belief  in  the  omnipresence 
of  the  Deity  ? 


HIS  RELIGIOUS  BELIEF.  411 

Theodore  Parker  explained  Emerson's  posi 
tion,  as  he  understood  it,  in  an  article  in  the 
"  Massachusetts  Quarterly  Review."  I  borrow 
this  quotation  from  Mr.  Cooke  :  — 

"  He  has  an  absolute  confidence  in  God.  He 
has  been  foolishly  accused  of  Pantheism,  which 
sinks  God  in  nature,  but  no  man  is  further  from 
it.  He  never  sinks  God  in  man ;  he  does  not 
stop  with  the  law,  in  matter  or  morals,  but  goes 
to  the  Law-giver ;  yet  probably  it  would  not  be 
so  easy  for  him  to  give  his  definition  of  God,  as 
it  would  be  for  most  graduates  at  Andover  or 
Cambridge." 

We  read  in  his  Essay,  "  Self -Reliance  " :  "  This 
is  the  ultimate  fact  which  we  so  quickly  reach  on 
this,  as  on  every  topic,  the  resolution  of  all  into 
the  ever-blessed  ONE.  Self-existence  is  the  at 
tribute  of  the  Supreme  Cause,  and  it  constitutes 
the  measure  of  good  by  the  degree  in  which  it 
enters  into  all  lower  forms." 

The  "  ever-blessed  ONE  "  of  Emerson  corre 
sponds  to  the  Father  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity.  The  "  Over-Soul  "  of  Emerson  is  that 
aspect  of  Deity  which  is  known  to  theology  as 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Jesus  was  for  him  a  divine 
manifestation,  but  only  as  other  great  human 
souls  have  been  in  all  ages  and  are  to-day.  He 
was  willing  to  be  called  a  Christian  just  as  he 
was  willing  to  be  called  a  Platonist. 


412  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

Explanations  are  apt  not  to  explain  much  in 
dealing  with  subjects  like  this.  "  Canst  thou 
by  searching  find  out  God  ?  Canst  thou  find  out 
the  Almighty  unto  perfection?  "  But  on  certain 
great  points  nothing  could  be  clearer  than  the 
teaching  of  Emerson.  He  believed  in  the  doc 
trine  of  spiritual  influx  as  sincerely  as  any  Cal- 
vinist  or  Swedenborgian.  His  views  as  to  fate, 
or  the  determining  conditions  of  the  character, 
brought  him  near  enough  to  the  doctrine  of 
predestination  to  make  him  afraid  of  its  con 
sequences,  and  led  him  to  enter  a  caveat  against 
any  denial  of  the  self-governing  power  of  the 
will. 

His  creed  was  a  brief,  one,  but  he  carried  it 
everywhere  with  him.  In  all  he  did,  in  all  he 
said,  and  so  far  as  all  outward  signs  could  show, 
in  all  his  thoughts,  the  indwelling  Spirit  was  his 
light  and  guide  ;  through  all  nature  he  looked 
up  to  nature's  God ;  and  if  he  did  not  worship 
the  "  man  Christ  Jesus "  as  the  churches  of 
Christendom  have  done,  he  followed  his  foot 
steps  so  nearly  that  our  good  Methodist,  Father 
Taylor,  spoke  of  him  as  more  like  Christ  than 
any  man  he  had  known. 

Emerson  was  in  friendly  relations  with  many 
clergymen  of  the  church  from  which  he  had 
parted.  Since  he  left  the  pulpit,  the  lesson,  not 
of  tolerance,  for  that  word  is  an  insult  as  ap- 


EI8  RELATIONS    WITH  CLERGYMEN.        413 

plied  by  one  set  of  well-behaved  people  to  an 
other,  not  of  charity,  for  that  implies  an  im 
pertinent  assumption,  but  of  good  feeling  on  the 
part  of  divergent  sects  and  their  ministers  has 
been  taught  and  learned  as  never  before.  Their 
official  Confessions  of  Faith  make  far  less  differ 
ence  in  their  human  sentiments  and  relations 
than  they  did  even  half  a  century  ago.  These 
ancient  creeds  are  handed  along  down,  to  be 
kept  in  their  phials  with  their  stoppers  fast,  as 
attar  of  rose  is  kept  in  its  little  bottles ;  they 
are  not  to  be  opened  and  exposed  to  the  atmos 
phere  so  long  as  their  perfume,  —  the  odor  of 
sanctity,  —  is  diffused  from  the  carefully  treas 
ured  receptacles,  —  perhaps  even  longer  than 
that. 

Out  of  the  endless  opinions  as  to  the  signifi 
cance  and  final  outcome  of  Emerson's  religious 
teachings  I  will  select  two  as  typical. 

Dr.  William  Hague,  long  the  honored  min 
ister  of  a  Baptist  church  in  Boston,  where  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  friendly  acquaintance  with  him, 
has  written  a  thoughtful,  amiable  paper  on  Em 
erson,  which  he  read  before  the  New  York  Gene 
alogical  and  Biographical  Society.  This  Essay 
closes  with  the  following  sentence  :  — 

"  Thus,  to-day,  while  musing,  as  at  the  begin- 
oingi  over  the  works  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson, 
we  recognize  now  as  ever  his  imperial  g-enius  as 


414  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

one  of  the  greatest  of  writers ;  at  the  same  time, 
his  life  work,  as  a  whole,  tested  by  its  supreme 
ideal,  its  method  and  its  fruitage,  shows  also  a 
great  waste  of  power,  verifying  the  saying  of 
Jesus  touching  the  harvest  of  human  life  :  '  HE 
THAT  GATHERETH  NOT  WITH  ME  SCATTERETH 
ABROAD.'  " 

"  But  when  Dear\  Stanley  returned  from 
America,  it  was  to  report,"  says  Mr.  Conway 
"  ('  Macmillan,'  June,  1879),  that  religion  had 
there  passed  through  an  evolution  from  Edwards 
to  Emerson,  and  that  'the  genial  atmosphere 
which  Emerson  has  done  so  much  to  promote  is 
shared  by  all  the  churches  equally.' ' 

What  is  this  "genial  atmosphere"  but  the 
very  spirit  of  Christianity?  The  good  Baptist 
minister's  Essay  is  full  of  it.  He  comes  asking 
what  has  become  of  Emerson's  "  wasted  power  " 
and  lamenting  his  lack  of  "  fruitage,"  and  lo ! 
he  himself  has  so  ripened  and  mellowed  in  that 
same  Emersonian  air  that  the  tree  to  which  he 
belongs  would  hardly  know  him.  The  close- 
communion  clergyman  handles  the  arch-heretic 
as  tenderly  as  if  he  were  the  nursing  mother  of 
a  new  infant  Messiah.  A  few  generations  ago 
this  preacher  of  a  new  gospel  would  have  been 
burned ;  a  little  later  he  would  been  tried  and  im 
prisoned  ;  less  than  fifty  years  ago  he  was  called 
infidel  and  atheist ;  names  which  are  fast  becorn- 


HIS  RELATIONS    WITH  CLERGYMEN.        415 

ing  relinquished  to  the  intellectual  half-breeds 
who  sometimes  find  their  way  into  pulpits  and 
the  so-called  religious  periodicals. 

It  is  not  within  our  best-fenced  churches  and 
creeds  that  the  self-governing  American  is  like 
to  find  the  religious  freedom  which  the  Concord 
prophet  asserted  with  the  strength  of  Luther 
and  the  sweetness  of  Melancthon,  and  which  the 
sovereign  in  his  shirt-sleeves  will  surely  claim. 
Milton  was  only  the  precursor  of  Emerson  when 
he  wrote  :  — 

"  Neither  is  God  appointed  and  confined,  where 
and  out  of  what  place  these  his  chosen  shall  be 
first  heard  to  speak  ;  for  he  sees  not  as  man  sees, 
chooses  not  as  man  chooses,  lest  we  should  devote 
ourselves  again  to  set  places  and  assemblies,  and 
outward  callings  of  men,  planting  our  faith  one 
while  in  the  old  convocation  house,  and  another 
while  in  the  Chapel  at  Westminster,  when  all 
the  faith  and  religion  that  shall  be  there  canon 
ized  is  not  sufficient  without  plain  convincement, 
and  the  charity  of  patient  instruction,  to  supple 
the  least  bruise  of  conscience,  to  edify  the  mean 
est  Christian  who  desires  to  walk  in  the  spirit 
and  not  in  the  letter  of  human  trust,  for  all  the 
number  of  voices  that  can  be  there  made;  no, 
though  Harry  the  Seventh  himself  there,  with 
all  his  liege  tombs  about  him,  should  lend  their 
voices  from  the  dead,  to  swell  their  number." 


416  RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 

The  best  evidence  of  the  effect  produced  by 
Emerson's  writings  and  life  is  to  be  found  in  the 
attention  he  has  received  from  biographers  and 
critics.  The  ground  upon  which  I  have  ventured 
was  already  occupied  by  three  considerable 
Memoirs.  Mr.  George  Willis  Cooke's  elaborate 
work  is  remarkable  for  its  careful  and  thorough 
analysis  of  Emerson's  teachings.  Mr.  Moncure 
Daniel  Conway's  "Emerson  at  Home  and 
Abroad  "  is  a  lively  picture  of  its  subject  by  one 
long  and  well  acquainted  with  him.  Mr.  Alex 
ander  Ireland's  "  Biographical  Sketch  "  brings 
together,  from  a  great  variety  of  sources,  as  well 
as  from  his  own  recollections,  the  facts  of  Em 
erson's  history  and  the  comments  of  those  whose 
opinions  were  best  worth  reproducing.  I  must 
refer  to  this  volume  for  a  bibliography  of  the 
various  works  and  Essays  of  which  Emerson 
furnished  the  subject. 

From  the  days  when  Mr.  Whipple  attracted 
the  attention  of  our  intelligent,  but  unawakened 
reading  community,  by  his  discriminating  and 
appreciative  criticisms  of  Emerson's  Lectures, 
and  Mr.  Lowell  drew  the  portrait  of  the  New 
England  "  Plotinus-Montaigne  "  in  his  brilliant 
"  Fable  for  Critics,"  to  the  recent  essays  of  Mr. 
Matthew  Arnold,  Mr.  John  Morley,  Mr.  Henry 
Norman,  and  Mr.  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman, 
Emerson's  writings  have  furnished  one  of  the 


EMERSON  AS  JUDGED  BY  HIS   TOWNSMEN.    417 

most  enduring  pieces  de  resistance  at  the  critical 
tables  of  the  old  and  the  new  world. 

He  early  won  the  admiration  of  distinguished 
European  thinkers  and  writers  :  Carlyle  accepted 
his  friendship  and  his  disinterested  services ; 
Miss  Martineau  fully  recognized  his  genius  and 
sounded  his  praises ;  Miss  Bremer  fixed  her 
sharp  eyes  on  him  and  pronounced  him  "  a  noble 
man."  Professor  Tyndall  found  the  inspiration 
of  his  life  in  Emerson's  fresh  thought ;  and  Mr. 
Arnold,  who  clipped  his  medals  reverently  but 
unsparingly,  confessed  them  to  be  of  pure  gold, 
even  while  he  questioned  whether  they  would 
pass  current  with  posterity.  He  found  discern 
ing  critics  in  France,  Germany,  and  Holland. 
Better  than  all  is  the  testimony  of  those  who 
knew  him  best.  They  who  repeat  the  saying 
that  "  a  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in  his 
own  country,"  will  find  an  exception  to  its  truth 
in  the  case  of  Emerson.  Read  the  impressive 
words  spoken  at  his  funeral  by  his  fellow-towns 
man,  Judge  Hoar ;  read  the  glowing  tributes  of 
three  of  Concord's  poets,  —  Mr.  Alcott,  Mr. 
Channing,  and  Mr.  Sanborn,  —  and  it  will  ap 
pear  plainly  enough  that  he,  whose  fame  had 
gone  out  into  all  the  earth,  was  most  of  all 
believed  in,  honored,  beloved,  lamented,  in  the 
little  village  circle  that  centred  about  his  own 
fireside. 

27 


418  RALPH   WALDO  EMERSON. 

It  is  a  not  uninteresting  question  whether 
Emerson  has  bequeathed  to  the  language  any 
essay  or  poem  which  will  resist  the  flow  of  time 
like  "  the  adamant  of  Shakespeare,"  and  remain 
a  classic  like  the  Essays  of  Addison  or  Gray's 
Elegy.  It  is  a  far  more  important  question 
whether  his  thought  entered  into  the  spirit  of 
his  day  and  generation,  so  that  it  modified  the 
higher  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  life  of 
his  time,  and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  those 
of  succeeding  ages.  Corpora  non  agunt  nisi 
soluta,  and  ideas  must  be  dissolved  and  taken 
up  as  well  as  material  substances  before  they  can 
act.  "  That  which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened 
except  it  die,"  or  rather  lose  the  form  with  which 
it  was  sown.  Eight  stanzas  of  four  lines  each 
have  made  the  author  of  "  The  Burial  of  Sir 
John  Moore  "  an  immortal,  and  endowed  the 
language  with  a  classic,  perfect  as  the  most  fin 
ished  cameo.  But  what  is  the  gift  of  a  mourn 
ing  ring  to  the  bequest  of  a  perpetual  annuity  ? 
How  many  lives  have  melted  into  the  history  of 
their  time,  as  the  gold  was  lost  in  Corinthian 
brass,  leaving  no  separate  monumental  trace  of 
their  influence,  but  adding  weight  and  color  and 
worth  to  the  age  of  which  they  formed  a  part 
and  the  generations  that  came  after  them !  We 
can  dare  to  predict  of  Emerson,  in  the  words  of 
his  old  friend  and  disciple,  Mr.  Cranch  :  — 


EMERSON  AS  JUDGED  BY  HIS  LIFE.       419 

"  The  wise  will  know  thee  and  the  good  will  love, 

The  age  to  come  will  feel  thy  impress  given 
In  all  that  lifts  the  race  a  step  above 

Itself,  and  stamps  it  with  the  seal  of  heaven." 

It  seems  to  us,  to-day,  that  Emerson's  best  liter 
ary  work  in  prose  and  verse  must  live  as  long 
as  the  language  lasts ;  but  whether  it  live  or  fade 
from  memory,  the  influence  of  his  great  and 
noble  life  and  the  spoken  and  written  words 
which  were  its  exponents,  blends,  indestructible, 
with  the  enduring  elements  of  civilization. 

It  is  not  irreverent,  but  eminently  fitting,  to 
compare  any  singularly  pure  and  virtuous  life 
with  that  of  the  great  exemplar  in  whose  foot 
steps  Christendom  professes  to  follow.  The  time 
was  when  the  divine  authority  of  his  gospel 
rested  chiefly  upon  the  miracles  he  is  reported 
to  have  wrought.  As  the  faith  in  these  excep 
tions  to  the  general  laws  of  the  universe  dimin 
ished,  the  teachings  of  the  Master,  of  whom  it 
was  said  that  he  spoke  as  never  man  spoke, 
were  more  largely  relied  upon  as  evidence  of  his 
divine  mission.  Now,  when  a  comparison  of 
these  teachings  with  those  of  other  religious 
leaders  is  thought  by  many  to  have  somewhat 
lessened  the  force  of  this  argument,  the  life  of 
the  sinless  and  self-devoted  servant  of  God  and 
friend  of  man  is  appealed  to  as  the  last  and  con- 


420  RALPH    WALDO  EMERSON. 

vincing  proof  that  he  was  an  immediate  mani 
festation  of  the  Divinity. 

Judged  by  his  life  Emerson  comes  very  near 
our  best  ideal  of  humanity.  He  was  born  too 
late  for  the  trial  of  the  cross  or  the  stake,  or 
even  the  jail.  But  the  penalty  of  having  an 
opinion  of  his  own  and  expressing  it  was  a  seri 
ous  one,  and  he  accepted  it  as  cheerfully  as  any 
of  Queen  Mary's  martyrs  accepted  his  fiery 
baptism.  His  faith  was  too  large  and  too  deep 
for  the  formulae  he  found  built  into  the  pulpit, 
and  he  was  too  honest  to  cover  up  his  doubts 
under  the  flowing  vestments  of  a  sacred  calling. 
His  writings,  whether  in  prose  or  verse,  are 
worthy  of  admiration,  but  his  manhood  was  the 
underlying  quality  which  gave  them  their  true 
value.  It  was  in  virtue  of  this  that  his  rare 
genius  acted  on  so  many  minds  as  a  trumpet 
call  to  awaken  them  to  the  meaning  and  the 
privileges  of  this  earthly  existence  with  all  its 
infinite  promise.  No  matter  of  what  he  wrote 
or  spoke,  his  words,  his  tones,  his  looks,  carried 
the  evidence  of  a  sincerity  which  pervaded  them 
all  and  was  to  his  eloquence  and  poetry  like  the 
water  of  crystallization ;  without  which  they 
would  effloresce  into  mere  rhetoric.  He  shaped 
an  ideal  for  the  commonest  life,  he  proposed  an 
object  to  the  humblest  seeker  after  truth.  Look 
for  beauty  in  the  world  around  you,  he  said,  and 


LIFE  JUDGED  BY  THE  IDEAL  STANDARD.    421 

you  shall  see  it  everywhere.  Look  within,  with 
pure  eyes  and  simple  trust,  and  you  shall  find 
the  Deity  mirrored  in  your  own  soul.  Trust 
yourself  because  you  trust  the  voice  of  God  in 
your  inmost  consciousness. 

There  are  living  organisms  so  transparent  that 
we  can  see  their  hearts  beating  and  their  blood 
flowing  through  their  glassy  tissues.  So  trans 
parent  was  the  life  of  Emerson ;  so  clearly  did 
the  true  nature  of  the  man  show  through  it. 
What  he  taught  others  to  be,  he  was  himself. 
His  deep  and  sweet  humanity  won  him  love  and 
reverence  everywhere  among  those  whose  natures 
were  capable  of  responding  to  the  highest  mani 
festations  of  character.  Here  and  there  a  nar 
row-eyed  sectary  may  have  avoided  or  spoken  ill 
of  him  ;  but  if  He  who  knew  what  was  in  man 
had  wandered  from  door  to  door  in  New  England 
as  of  old  in  Palestine,  we  can  well  believe  that 
one  of  the  thresholds  which  "  those  blessed  feet " 
would  have  crossed,  to  hallow  and  receive  its 
welcome,  would  have  been  that  of  the  lovely 
and  quiet  home  of  Emerson. 


INDEX. 


[For  many  references,  not  found  elsewhere,  see  under  the  general 
headings  of  Emerson's  Books,  Essays,  Poems.'} 


ABBOTT,  JOSIAH  GABDINER,  a  pupil  of 
Emerson,  49,  50. 

Academic  Races,  2,  3.  (See  Hered 
ity.) 

Action,  subordinate,  112. 

Adams,  John,  old  age,  261. 

Adams,  Samuel,  Harvard  debate, 
115. 

Addison,  Joseph,  classic,  416. 

Advertiser,  The,  Emerson's  interest 
in,  348. 

^olian  Harp,  his  model,  329,  340. 
(Sae  Emerson's  Poems,  —  Harp. ) 

.aischylus,  tragedies,  253.  (See 
Greek.) 

Agassiz,  Louis :  Saturday  Club,  222 ; 
companionship,  403. 

Agriculture  :  in  Anthology,  30 ;  at 
tacked,  190  ;  not  Emerson's  field, 
255,  256, 365. 

Akenside,  Mark,  allusion,  16. 

Alchemy,  adepts,  260,  261. 

Alcott,  A.  Bronson  :  hearing  Emer 
son,  66 ;  speculations,  86  ;  an  ideal 
ist,  150  ;  The  Dial,  159  ;  sonnet, 
355  ;  quoted,  373 ;  personality 
traceable,  389. 

Alcott,  Louisa  M.,  funeral  bouquet, 
351. 

Alexander  the  Great :  allusion,  184  ; 
mountain  likeness,  322. 

Alfred  the  Great,  220,  306. 

Ailston,  Washington,  unfinished  pic 
ture,  334.  (See  Pictures.) 

Ambition,  treated  in  Anthology,  30. 

America :  room  for  a  poet,  136,  137  ; 
virtues  and  defects,  143 ;  faith  in, 
179 ;  people  compared  with  Eng 
lish,  216  ;  things  awry,  260 ;  aris 
tocracy,  296 ;  in  the  Civil  War,  304 ; 
Revolution,  305  ;  Lincoln,  the  true 
history  of  his  time,  307  ;  passion 
for,  308,  309  ;  artificial  rhythm, 


329  ;  its  own  literary  style,  342 ; 
home  of  man,  371 ;  loyalty  to,  406 ; 
epithets,  406,  407.  (See  England, 
New  England,  etc.) 

Amici,  meeting  Emerson,  63.  (See 
Italy. ) 

Amusements,  in  New  England,  30. 

Anaemia,  artistic,  334. 

Ancestry :  in  general,  1-3 ;  Emer 
son's,  3  el  seq.  (See  Heredity.) 

Andover,  Mass. :  Theological  School, 
48  ;  graduates,  411. 

Andrew,  John  Albion :  War  Gov 
ernor,  223  ;  hearing  Emerson,  379. 
(See  South.) 

Angelo.     (See  Michael  Angela.) 

Antinomiauism  :  in  The  Dial,  162  ; 
kept  from,  177.  (See  God,  Reli 
gion,  etc.) 

Anti-Slavery :  in  Emerson's  pulpit, 
57  ;  the  reform,  141,  145,  152  ; 
Emancipation  address,  181  ;  Bos 
ton  and  New  York  addresses,  210— 
212  ;  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
228 ;  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  other 
matters,  303-307.  (See  South.) 

Antoninus,  Marcus,  allusion,  16. 

Architecture,  illustrations,  253. 

Arianism,  51.     (See  Unilarianism.) 

Aristotle  :  influence  over  Mary 
Emerson,  17  ;  times  mentioned. 
382. 

Arminianism,  51.  (See  Methodism, 
Religion,  etc.) 

Arnim,  Gisela  von,  225. 

Arnold,  Matthew  :  quotation  about 
America,  137  :  lecture,  236  ;  on 
Milton,  315  ;  his  Thyrsis,  333  ; 
criticism,  334 ;  string  of  Emerson's 
epithets,  406. 

Aryans,  comparison,  312. 

Asia :  a  pet  name,  176 ;  immovable, 
200. 


424 


INDEX. 


Assabet  River,  70,  71. 

Astronomy :  Harp  illustration,  108 ; 
stars  against  wrong,  252, '253.  (See 
Galileo,  Stars,  Venus,  etc.) 

Atlantic  Monthly :  sketch  of  Dr. 
Ripley,  14,  15 ;  of  Mary  Moody. 
Emerson,  1C  ;  established,  221 ; 
supposititious  club,  222  ;  on  Per 
sian  Poetry,  224 ;  on  Thoreau,  228 ; 
Emerson's  contributions,  239,  241 ; 
Brahma,  296. 

Atmosphere :  effect  on  inspiration, 
290  ;  spiritual,  413,  414. 

Augustine,  Emerson's  study  of, 
62. 

Authors,  quoted  by  Emerson,  381- 
383.  (See  Plutarch,  etc.) 

BACON,  FRANCIS  :  allusion,  22,  111 : 
times  quoted,  382. 

Bancroft,  George :  literary  rank,  33 ; 
in  college,  45. 

Barbier,  Henri  Auguste,  on  Napo 
leon,  208. 

Barnwell,  Robert  W.  :  in  history, 
45  ;  in  college,  47. 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  disputed, 
line,  128,  129. 

Beauty  :  its  nature,  74,  94,  95 ;  an 
end,  99,  135,  182 ;  study,  301. 

Beecher,  Edward,  on  prefcxistence, 
391.  (See  Preezistence.) 

Behmen,  Jacob  :  mysticism,  201, 
202,  396  ;  citation,  380. 

Berkeley,  Bishop  :  characteristics, 
189 ;  matter,  300. 

Bible  :  Mary  Emerson's  study,  16  ; 
Mosaic  cosmogony,  18 ;  the  Exo 
dus,  35 ;  the  Lord's  Supper,  58  ; 
Psalms,  68, 181, 182,  253  ;  lost  Par 
adise,  lOl ;  Genesis,  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  102 ;  Seer  of  Patmos, 
102,  103;  Apocalypse,  105;  Song 
of  Songs,  117  ;  Baruch's  roll,  117, 
118 ;  not  closed,  122  ;  the  Sower, 
154  ;  Noah's  Ark,  191 ;  Pharisee's 
trumpets,  255  ;  names  and  imag 
ery,  268;  sparing  the  rod,  297; 
rhythmic  mottoes,  314  ;  beauty  of 
Israel,  351  ;  face  of  an  angel,  352  ; 
barren  fig-tree,  367  ;  a  classic,  376 ; 
body  of  death,  "  Peace  be  still !  " 
379 ;  draught  of  fishes,  381 ;  its 
semi  -  detached  sentences,  405 ; 
Job  quoted,  411  ;  "  the  man 
Christ  Jesus,"  412;  scattering 
abroad,  414.  (See  Christ,  God, 
Religion,  etc.) 

Bigelow,  Jacob,  on  rural  cemeteries, 
§1. 


Biography,  every  man  writes  his 
own,  1. 

Blackmoro,  Sir  Richard,  contro 
versy,  31. 

Bliss  Family,  9. 

Bliss,  Daniel,  patriotism,  72. 

Blood,  transfusion  of,  256. 

Books,  use  and  abuse,  110,  111.  (See 
Emerson's  Essays.) 

Boston,  Mass.  :  First  Church,  10,  12, 
13;  Woman's  Club,  16;  Harbor, 
19 ;  nebular  spot,  25,  26 ;  its  pul 
pit  darling,  27  ;  Episcopacy,  28 ; 
Athenaeum,  31 ;  magazines,  28-34 ; 
intellectual  character,  lights  on  its 
three  hills,  high  caste  religion,  34  ; 
Samaria  and  Jerusalem,  35 ;  streets 
and  squares,  37-39  ;  Latin  School, 
39,  40, 43 ;  new  buildings,  42 ;  Mrs. 
Emerson's  boarding-house,  the 
Common  as  a  pasture,  43  ;  Unita 
rian  preaching,  51;  a  New  England 
centre,  52 ;  Emerson's  settlement, 
54  ;  Second  Church,  55-61  ;  lec 
tures,  87,  88,  191 ;  Trimount  Ora 
cle,  102 ;  stirred  by  the  Divinity- 
School  address,  126 ;  school-keep 
ing,  Roxbury,  129  ;  setthetic  soci 
ety,  149  ;  Transcendentalists,  155, 
156  ;  Bay,  172 ;  Freeman  Place 
Chapel,  210 :  Saturday  Club,  221- 
223 ;  Burns  Centennial,  224,  225  ; 
Parker  meeting,  228  ;  letters,  263, 
274,  275 ;  Old  South  lecture,  294  ; 
Unitarianism,  298 ;  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  307  ;  special  train, 
350;  Sons  of  Liberty,  309  ;  birth 
place,  407 ;  Baptists,  413. 

Boswell,  James :  allusion,  138  ;  one 
lacking,  223 ;  Life  of  Johnson,  268. 

Botany,  403.     ( See  Science. ) 

Bowen,  Francis:  literary  rank,  34; 
on  Nature,  103,  104. 

Brook  Farm,  159,  164-166,  189,  191. 
(See  TrantcendentaHtm,  etc.) 

Brown,  Howard  N.,  prayer,  355. 

Brown,  John,  sympathy  with,  211. 
(See  Anti-Slavery,  South.) 

Brownson,  Orestes  A.,  at  a  party, 
149. 

Bryant.  William  Cullen  :  his  literary 
rank,  33  ;  redundant  syllable,  328  ; 
his  translation  of  Homer  quoted, 
378. 

Buckminster,  Joseph  Stevens :  min 
ister  in  Boston,  12,  26,  27,  52; 
Memoir,  29;  destruction  of  Gol- 
dau,  31. 

Buddhism :  like  Transcendentalism, 
151 ;  Buddhist  nature,  188 ;  saints 


INDEX. 


425 


298.  (See  Emerson's  Poems, — 
Brahma,  — fndin,  etc.) 

Buff  on,  on  style,  341. 

Bulkcley  F.vnily,  4-7. 

Bulkoley,  Peter :  minister  of  Con 
cord,  4-7,  71 ;  comparison  of  ser 
mons,  57  ;  patriotism,  72  ;  laud- 
owner,  327. 

Bu  lyan,  John,  quoted,  1G9. 

Burke,  Edmund  :  essay,  73  ;  times 
mentioned,  382. 

Burns,  Robert:  festival,  224,  225; 
rank,  281 ;  image  referred  to,  38G ; 
religious  position,  409.  (See  Scot 
land.) 

Burroughs,  John,  view  of  English 
life,  335. 

Burton,  Robert,  quotations,  109, 
381. 

Buttrick,  Major,  in  the  Revolution, 
71,  72. 

Byron,  Lord :  allusion,  16 ;  rank, 
281  ;  disdain,  321  ;  uncertain  sky, 
335 ;  parallelism,  399. 

CABOT,  J.  ELLIOT  :  on  Emerson's  lit 
erary  habits,  27;  The  Di?,l,  159; 
prefaces,  283,  302 ;  Note,  295,  290 ; 
Prefatory  Note,  310,  311 ;  the  last 
meetings,  347,  348. 

Caesar,  Julius,  184, 197. 

California,  trip,  203-271,  359.  (See 
Thnyer.) 

Calvin,  John :  his  Commentary, 
103 ;  used  by  Cotton,  28G. 

Calvinism  :  Williim  Emerson's  want 
of  sympathy  with,  11,  12 ;  out 
grown,  51  ;  predestination,  230  ; 
saints,  298  ;  spiritual  influx,  412. 
(Sea  God,  Puritanism,  Religion, 
Un  itnrinnism. ) 

Cambridge,  Miss. :  Emerson  teach 
ing  there,  50 ;  exclusive  circles, 
52.  (See  Harvard  University.) 

Cant,  disgust  with,  156. 

Carlyle,  Thomas :  meeting  Emerson, 
C3 ;  rscollections  of  their  rela 
tions,  78-80,  83  ;  Sartor  Rssirtus, 
81,  *2,  91  ;  corresnondence,  82,  S3, 
89,  90,  127,  17G,  177,  192,  315,  317, 
374,  380,  331,  40fi,  407  :  L:f*  of 
Schillsr,  91 ;  on  Nature,  104,  105 ; 
Mh?ellini3^  130 ;  tho  WaterviJle 
Address,  13G-138  ;  influence,  149, 
150 ;  on  Transcendentalism,  156- 
153;  The  Dial,  160-163;  Brook 
Farm,  164 ;  friendship,  171 ;  Chel 
sea  visit,  194  ;  bitter  legacy,  19G  ; 
love  of  power,  197  ;  on  Napoleon 
and  Goethe,  208 ;  grumblings,  260 ; 


tobacco,  270;  Sartor  reprinted, 
272 ;  paper  on,  294 ;  Emerson's 
dying  friendship,  349 ;  phyrique, 
363 :  Gallic  fire,  38C  ;  on  Charac 
teristics,  387  ;  personality  trace 
able,  3S9. 

Carpt  ler,  William  B.,  230. 

Centuiy,  The,  ersay  in,  295. 

Cerebration,  unconscious,  112,  113. 

Chalmers,  Thomas,  preaching,  G5. 

Channing,  Walter,  headache,  175. 
390. 

Channing,  William  Ellery  :  allusion, 
1G;  directing  Emerson's  studies, 
51 ;  preaching,  52  ;  Emerson  in  hia 
pulpit,  CG;  influence,  147,  149; 
kept  awake,  157. 

Channing,  William  Ellery,  the  poet : 
his  Wanderer,  2G3  ;  Poems,  403. 

Channing,  William  Henry :  allu 
sions,  131,  149  ;  i;i  The  Dial,  159 ; 
the  Fuller  Memoir,  209 ;  Ode  in 
scribed  to,  211,  212. 

Charleston,  S  C.,  Emerson's  preach 
ing,  53.  (See  South. ) 

Charlestown,  Mass.,  Edward  Emer 
son's  residence,  8. 

Charles  V.,  197. 

Charles  XII.,  197. 

Chatelct,  Parent  du,  a  realist,  326. 

Chatham,  Lord,  255. 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey :  borrowings,  205 ; 
rank,  281  :  "onest  rhymes,  340; 
times  mentioned,  382. 

Chelmsford,  Mass.,  Emerson  teach 
ing  there,  49,  50. 

Chemistry,  403.     (See  Science.) 

Cheshire,  its  "haughty  hill,"  323. 

Choate,  Rufus,  oratory,  148. 

Christ :  reserved  expressions  about, 
13  :  mediatorship,  59  ;  true  office, 
120-122;  worship,  412.  (See  Jesus, 
Religion,  etc.) 

Christianity :  its  essentials,  13 ; 
primitive,  35 ;  a  mythus,  defects, 
121  :  the  true,  122;  two  benefits, 
123 :  authority,  124  :  incarnation 
o?,  176 ;  the  essence,  30G :  Fathers, 
391. 

Christian,  Emerson  a,  267. 

Christian  Examiner,  The  :  on  Wil 
liam  Emerson,  12 ;  its  literary 
predecessor,  29  ;  on  Nature,  103, 
104 :  repudiates  Divinity  School 
Address,  124. 

Church :  activity  in  1820, 147 ;  avoid 
ance  of,  153 :  the  true,  244 ;  music, 
306.  (See  God,  Jesus,  Religion, 
etc.) 

Cicero,  allusion,  111. 


426 


INDEX. 


Cid,  the,  184. 

Clarke,  James  Freeman  :  letters,  77- 
80,  128-131  ;  transcendentalism, 
149;  The  Dial,  159;  Fuller  Me 
moir,  209 ;  Emerson's  funeral,  351, 
353-355. 

Clarke,  Samuel,  allusion,  16. 

Clarke,  Sarah,  sketches,  130. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  220. 

Clergy  :  among  Emerson's  ancestry, 
3-8  ;  gravestones,  9.  ( See  Cotton, 
Heredity,  etc.) 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor  :  allusion, 
16 ;  Emerson's  account,  63 ;  influ 
ence,  149,  150 ;  Carlyle's  criti 
cism,  196  ;  Ancient  Mariner,  333 ; 
Christabel,  Abyssinian  Maid,  334  ;. 
times  mentioned,  382 ;  an  image 
quoted,  386  ;  William  Tell,  387. 

Collins,  William :  poetry,  321 ;  Ode 
and  Dirge,  332. 

Commodity,  essay,  94. 

Concentration,  288. 

Concord,  Mass.  :  Bulkeley's  minis 
try,  4-7  ;  first  association  with  the 
Emerson  name,  7 ;  Joseph's  de 
scendants,  8  ;  the  Fight,  9 ;  Dr. 
Eipley,  10  ;  Social  Club,  14 ;  Emer 
son's  preaching,  54  ;  Goodwin's 
settlement,  50 ;  discord,  57  ;  Em 
erson's  residence  begun,  69,  70  ; 
a  typical  town,  70 ;  settlement, 
71 ;  a  Delphi,  72  ;  Emerson  home, 
83;  Second  Centennial,  84,  85, 
303 ;  noted  citizens,  86 ;  town 
government,  the,  monument,  87  ; 
the  Sage,  102;  letters,  125-131, 
225;  supposition  of  Carlyle's  life 
there,  171  ;  Emancipation  Ad 
dress,  181 ;  leaving,  192 ;  John 
Brown  meeting,  211 ;  Samuel 
Hoar,  213 ;  wide-awake,  221 ;  Lin 
coln  obsequies,  243,  307 ;  an  un- 
der-Concord,  256;  fire,  271-279; 
letters,  275-279 ;  return,  279;  Min- 
ute  Man  unveiled,  292 ;  Soldiers' 
Monument,  303;  land-owners,  327 ; 
memorial  stone,  333 ;  Conway's 
visits,  343,  344  ;  Whitman's,  344, 
345 ;  Russell's,  345 ;  funeral,  350- 
356  ;  founders,  352  :  Sleepy  Hol 
low,  356 ;  a  strong  attraction,  369  ; 
neighbors,  373 :  Prophet,  415. 

Congdon,  Charles,  his  Reminis 
cences,  66. 

Conservatism,  fairly  treated,  156, 
157.  (See  Reformers,  Religion, 
Transcendentalism,  etc.) 

Conversation  :  C.  C.  Emerson's  es 
say,  22,  258 ;  inspiration,  290. 


Conway,  Moncure  D. :  account  of 
Emerson,  55,  56,  66,  194 ;  two 
visits,  343,  344  ;  anecdote,  346 ; 
error,  401 ;  on  Stanley,  414. 

Cooke,  George  Willis:  biography  of 
Emerson,  43,  44,  66,  88  ;  on  Amer 
ican  Scholar,  107,  108  ;  on  anti- 
slavery,  212 ;  on  Parnassus,  280- 
282 ;  on  pantheism,  411. 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  33. 

Corot,  pearly  mist,  335,  336.  (See 
Pictures,  etc.) 

Cotton,  John :  service  to  scholar 
ship,  34 ;  reading  Calvin,  286. 

Counterparts,  the  story,  226. 

Cowper,  William :  Mother's  Picture, 
178;  disinterested  good,  304;  ten 
derness,  333  ;  verse,  338. 

Cranch,  Christopher  P.:  The  Dial, 
159 ;  poetic  prediction,  416,  417. 

Cromwell,  Oliver  :  saying  by  a  war 
saint,  252 ;  in  poetry,  387. 

Cudworth,  Ralph,  epithets,  200. 

Cupples,  George,  on  Emerson's  lec 
tures,  195. 

Curtius,  Quintus  for  Mettus,  388. 

Cusliing,  Caleb :  rank,  33 ;  in  col 
lege,  45. 

DANA,  RICHARD  HENRY,  his  literary 
place,  33,  223. 

Dante  :  allusion  in  Anthology,  31 ; 
rank,  202,  320  ;  times  mentioned, 
382. 

Dartmouth  College,  oration,  131- 
135. 

Darwin,  Charles.  Origin  of  Species, 
105. 

Dawes,  Rufus,  Boyhood  Memories, 
44. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  in 
tellectual,  115.  (See  American, 
etc.) 

Delirium,  imaginative,  easily  pro 
duced,  238.  (See  Intuition.) 

Delia  Cruscans,  allusion,  152.  (See 
Transcen  (ten  talism. ) 

Delos,  allusion,  374. 

Delphic  Oracle  :  of  New  England, 
72  ;  illustration,  84. 

Democratic  Review,  The,  on  Nature, 
103. 

De  Profundis,  illustrating  Carlyle's 
spirit,  83. 

De  Quincey,  Thomas :  Emerson's 
interview  with,  C3,  195 ;  on  origi 
nality,  92. 

De  Bteel,  Mme.,  allusion,  16. 

De  Tocquevillle,  account  of  Unita- 
rianisin,  51. 


INDEX. 


427 


Dewey,  Orville,  New  Bedford  minis 
try,  07. 

Dexter,  Lord  Timothy,  punctuation, 
325,  326. 

Dial,  The  :  established,  147,  158  ; 
editors,  159  ;  influence,  160-163  ; 
death,  164 ;  poems,  192 ;  old  con 
tributors,  221 ;  papers,  295 ;  intui 
tions,  394. 

Dial,  The  (second),  in  Cincinnati, 
239. 

Dickens,  Charles  :  on  Father  Taylor, 
56  ;  American  Notes,  155. 

Diderot,  Denis,  essay,  79. 

Diogenes,  story,  401.    (See  Laertius. ) 

Disinterestedness,  259. 

Disneli,  Benjamin,  the  rectorship, 
282. 

Dramas,  their  limitations,  375.  (See 
Shakespeare.) 

Dress,  illustration  of  poetry,  311, 
312. 

Dryden,  John,  quotation,  20,  21. 

Dwight,  John  S.  :  in  The  Dial,  159 ; 
musical  critic,  223. 

EAST  LEXINGTON,  Mass.,  the  Unita 
rian  pulpit,  88. 

Economy,  its  meaning,  142. 

Edinburgh,  Scotland  :  Emerson's 
visit  and  preaching,  64,  65;  lec 
ture,  195. 

Education  :  through  friendship,  97, 
98  ;  public  questions,  258,  259. 

Edwards,  Jonathan  :  allusions,  16, 
51 ;  the  atmosphere  changed,  414. 
(See  Calvinism,  Puritanism, 
Unilarianism,  etc.) 

Egotism,  a  past,  233. 

Egypt :  poetic  teaching,  121 ;  trip, 
271, 272 ;  Sphinx,  330.  (See  Emer 
son's  Poems, — Sphinx.) 

Election  Sermon,  illustration,  112. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  verbal  heir-loom, 
313.  (See  Raleigh,  etc.) 

Ellis,  Rufus,  minister  of  the  First 
Church,  Boston,  43. 

Eloquence,  defined,  285,  286. 

Emerson  Family,  3  el  seq. 

Emerson,  Charles  Chauncy,  brother 
of  Ralph  Waldo :  feeling  towards 
natural  science,  18,  237  ;  memo 
ries,  19-25,  37,  43 ;  character,  77  ; 
death,  89,  90 ;  influence,  98 ;  The 
Dial,  161 ;  "  the  hand  of  Doug 
las,"  234  ;  nearness,  368  ;  po3try, 
385 ;  Harvard  Register,  401. 

Emerson,  Edith,  daughter  of  Ralph 
Waldo,  263. 

Emerson,  Edward,  of  Newbury,  8. 


Emerson,  Edward  Bliss,  brother  of 
Ralph  Waldo :  allusions,  19,  20, 
37,  38 ;  death,  89  ;  Last  Farewell, 
poem,  ICl  ;  nearness,  368. 

Emerson,  Edward  Waldo,  son  of 
Ralph  Waldo  :  in  New  York,  246 ; 
on  the  Farming  essay,  255 ;  father's 
last  days,  340-349  ;  reminiscences, 
359.  ' 

Emerson,  Ellen,  daughter  of  Ralph 
Waldo  :  residence,  83;  trip  to  Eu 
rope,  271 ;  care  of  her  father,  294  ; 
correspondence,  347. 

Emerson,  Mrs.  Ellen  Louisa  Tucker, 
first  wife  of  Ralph  Waldo,  55. 

Emerson,  Joseph,  minister  of  Men- 
don,  4,  7,  8. 

Emerson,  Joseph,  the  second,  min 
ister  of  Maiden,  8. 

Emerson,  Mrs.  Lydia  Jackson,  sec 
ond  wife  of  Ralph  Waldo  :  mar 
riage,  83 ;  Asm,  176. 

Emerson,  Mary  Moody:  influence 
over  her  nephew,  16-18  ;  quoted, 
385. 

Emerson,Robert  Bulkeley,  brother  of 
Ralph  Waldo,  37. 

EMERSO.V,  RALPH  WALDO,  HIS  LIFE: 
moulding  influences,  1 ;  New  Eng 
land  heredity,  2  ;  ancestry,  3-10 ; 
parents,  10-16 ;  Aunt  Mary,  16-19 ; 
brothers,  19-25  ;  the  nest,  25  ; 
noted  scholars,  26-36 ;  birthplace, 
37,  38  ;  boyhood,  39,  40  ;  early 
efforts,  41,  42;  parsonages,  42; 
father's  deat'i,  43 ;  boyish  appear 
ance,  44  ;  college  days,  45-47  ;  let 
ter,  48  ;  teaching,  49,  50 ;  study 
ing  theology,  and  preaching,  51- 
54  ;  ordination,  marriage,  55  ;  be 
nevolent  efforts,  wife's  death,  56 ; 
withdrawal  from  his  church,  57- 
61 ;  first  trip  to  Europe,  62-65 ; 
preaching  in  America,  66,  67  ;  re 
membered  conversations,  68,  69; 
residence  in  the  Old  Manse,  69-72 ; 
lecturing,  essays  in  The  North 
American,  73 ;  poems,  74 ;  portray 
ing  himself,  75  ;  comparison  with 
Milton,  76,  77  ;  letters  to  Clarke, 
78-80,  128-131 ;  interest  in  Sartor 
Resartus,  81 ;  first  letter  to  Car- 
lyle,  82  ;  second  marriage  and 
Concord  home,  83  ;  Second  Cen 
tennial,  84-87 :  Boston  lectures, 
Concord  Fight,  87 ;  East  Lexing 
ton  church,  War,  88  ;  death  of 
brothers,  89, 90 ;  Nature  published, 
91 ;  parallel  with  Wordsworth,  92  j 
free  utterance,  93  ;  Beauty,  poems, 


428 


INDEX. 


94 ;  Language,  95-97  ;  Discipline, 
97,  98  ;  Idealism,  98,  99  ;  Illusions, 
99,  100  ;  Spirit  and  Matter,  100 ; 
Paradise  regained,  101 ;  the  Biole 
spirit,  102 ;  Revelations,  103 ;  Bow- 
en's  criticism,  104 ;  Evolution, 
105,  106 ;  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration, 
107,  108;  fable  of  the  One  Man, 
109  ;  man  thinking,  110  ;  Books, 
111 ;  unconscious  cerebration,  112; 
a  scholar's  duties,  113 ;  specialists, 
114;  a  declaration  of  intellectual 
independence,  115 ;  address  at  the 
Theological  School,  116,  117  ;  ef 
fect  on  Unitarians,  118 ;  sentiment 
of  duty,  119  ;  Intuition,  120 ;  Rea 
son,  121 ;  the  Traditional  Jesus, 
122  ;  Sabbath  and  Preaching,  123 ; 
correspondence  with  Ware,  124- 
127  ;  ensuing  controversy,  127  ; 
Ten  Lectures,  128  ;  Dartmouth 
Address,  131-136  ;  Waterville  Ad 
dress,  136-140  ;  reforms,  141-145 ; 
new  views,  146  ;  Past  and  Present, 
147 ;  on  Everett,  148 ;  assembly 
at  Dr.  Warrsn's,  149  ;  Boston  doc 
trinaires,  150 ;  unwise  followers, 
151-156 ;  Con:ervatives,  15G,  157  ; 
two  Transcendental  products,  157- 
166  ;  first  volume  of  Essays,  1G6 ; 
History,  1G7,  168  ;  Sslf-reliance, 
1G8, 169 :  Compensation,  1C9  ;  other 
essays,  170;  Friendship,  170.  171  ; 
He  -oism,  172 ;  Over-Soul,  172-175  ; 
house  and  income,  176  ;  son's 
death,  177,  178  ;  American  and 
Oriental  qualities,  179  ;  English 
virtues,  180 ;  Emancipation  ad 
dresses  in  1844,  181 ;  second  series 
of  Essays,  181-188  ;  Reformers, 
188-191  ;  Carlyle's  business,  Poems 
published,  192 ;  a  second  trip  to 
Europe,  193-196  ;  Representative 
Men,  196-209  ;  lectures  again,  210 ; 
Abolitionism,  211,  212;  Woman's 
Rights,  212,  213  ;  a  New  Enpl-nd 
Roman,  213,  214  ;  English  Trrifcs, 
214-221  ;  a  new  m^frazine,  221  ; 
clubs,  222,  223 ;  mo: e  poetry,  224 ; 
Burns  Festival,  224  ;  letber  about 
various  literary  matters,  225-227  ; 
Parker's  cle^th,  Lincoln's  Procla 
mation,  228  ;  Conduct  of  Life,  228- 
239  ;  Boston  Hymn,  240  ;  "  So  nigh 
is  grandeur  to  our  dust,"  241  ;  At 
lantic  contributions,  242  ;  Lincoln 
obsequies,  243  ;  Free  Religion,  243, 
244  ;  second  Phi  Beta  Kappa  ora 
tion,  244-246;  poem  read  to  his 
eon,  246-248;  Harvard  Lectures, 


249-255 ;  agriculture  and  science, 
255,  250  ;  prediction.,  257  ;  Books, 
258  ;  Conversation,  25o  ;  elements 
ox  Courage,  250 ;  Success,  200, 261 ; 
on  old  men,  261,  2C2  ;  Caliiornia 
trip,  263-268  ;  eating-,  269 ;  smok 
ing,  270  ;  conflagration,  loss  of 
memory,  Froude  banquet,  third 
trip  abroad,  272 ;  friendly  gifts, 
272-279;  editing  Parnassus,  280- 
282  ;  failing  powers,  283 ;  Hope 
everywhere,  284  ;  negations,  285  ; 
Eloquence,  Pessimism,  28G ;  Com 
edy,  Plagiarism,  287 ;  lessono  re 
peated,  288;  Sources  of  Inspira 
tion,  289,  290;  Future  Life,  290- 
292;  dissolving  creed,  292;  Con 
cord  Bridge,  292,  293  ;  decline  of 
faculties,  Old  South  lecture,  294 ; 
papers,  294,  295  ;  quiet  pen,  295  ; 
posthumous  works,  295  et  seq.  ; 
the  pedagogue,  297  ;  University  of 
Virginia,  299  ;  indebtedness  to 
Plutarch,  299-302  ;  slavery  ques 
tions,  303-308 ;  Woman  Question, 
308  ;  patriotism,  308,  309  ;  nothing 
but  a  poet,  311 ;  antique  \vcrds, 
313  ;  self -revelation,  313,  314  ;  a 
great  poet?  314-31G;  humility, 
317-319 ;  poetic  favorites,  320, 
321 ;  comparison  with  contempora 
ries,  321  ;  citizen  of  the  universe, 
322  ;  fascination  of  syir.bolkin, 
323;  realism,  science,  imaginative 
coloring,  324 ;  dangers  of  rer.listic 
poetry,  325  ;  range  of  subjects, 
32G  ;  bad  rhymes,  327  ;  a  trick  of 
verse,  328  ;  one  faultless  poem, 
332 ;  spell  -  bound  readers,  333  ; 
workshop,  334  ;  octosyllabic  verse, 
atmosphere,  335,  33G ;  compar 
ison  with  Wordsworth,  337 ;  and 
others,  338  ;  dissolving  sentences, 
339  ;  incompleteness.  339,  340 ; 
personality,  341,  342;  last  visits 
received,  343-345;  the  red  rose, 
345 ;  forgetfulncss,  346  ;  litvrary 
work  of  last  years,  346,  347 ;  let 
ters  unanswered,  347  ;  hearing  and 
Birht,  subjects  that  interested  him, 
348 ;  later  hours,  death,  349 ;  last 
rites,  350-356;  portrayal,  357- 
419  ;  atmosphere,  357  ;  books,  ciis- 
tilled  alcohol,  358  ;  physique,  359 ; 
demeanor,  360  ;  hair  and  eyer,  in 
sensibility  to  music,  361 ;  daily 
habits,  3G2 ;  boOily  infirmities, 
362,  363  :  voice,  3G3 ;  quiet  laugh 
ter,  want  of  manual  dexterity, 
3G4;  spade  anecdote,  memory, 


INDEX. 


429 


Ignorance  of  exact  science,  365 ; 
intuition  and  natural  sagacity 
united,  xastUiousnes?,  36G ;  irupa- 
tisnca  with  omaU-mlxKlad  worship- 
P3~s,  FrDthiagham',3  Biography, 
3G7  ;  inii.nites,  familiarity  not  in- 
vitsd,  338 ;  among  fellow-towus- 
mon,  crrn.nl  to  earth,  inherited 
tradi  iou3,  3G9 ;  sealed  orders, 
370,  371 ;  conscientious  work,  sac- 
rificss  lor  truth,  essays  instead 
of  sermons,  372 ;  congregation 
at  lar-je,  charm,  optimb'n,  373 ; 
financially  straitened,  374 ;  lec 
ture  room  limitations,  374,  375 ; 
a  Shakespeare  parallel,  375,  370  ; 
platform  fascination,  370 ;  con 
structive  power,  370,  377 ;  English 
expsriences,  lecture-peddling,  377; 
a  stove  relinquished,  utterance, 
an  hour's  weight,  378;  trumpet- 
sound,  sweet  seriousness,  diamond 
drops,  effect  on  Governor  Andrew, 
379  ;  learning  at  second  hand,  380  ; 
th3  study  of  Goethe,  3SO ;  a  great 
quoter,  no  pedantry,  381  ;  list  of 
authors  referred  to,  381,  382  ;  spe 
cial  indebtedness,  382  ;  penetra 
tion,  borrowing,  383 ;  method  of 
writing  and  its  results,  aided  by 
others,  384 ;  sayings  that  seem 
fa  nily  property,  385  ;  passages 
compared,  385-387  ;  the  tributary 
streams,  388 ;  accuracy  as  to  facts, 
383 ;  parsonalities  traceable  in 
hi-ii,  389 ;  place  as  a  thinker,  330  ; 
Platonic  anecdote,  391  ;  preexht- 
ence,  391,  392 ;  mind-moulds,  393 ; 
relying  on  instinct,  394  ;  dangers 
of  intuition,  395  ;  mysticism,  390  ; 
Oriental  side,  397  ;  transcendental 
mood,  398  ;  personal  identity  con 
fused,  399 ;  a  distorting  mirror, 
400 ;  distrust  of  science,  401-403  ; 
style  illustrated,  403,  404  ;  favor 
ite  words,  405 ;  royal  imagery, 
400 ;  comments  on  America,  40G, 
407 ;  common  property  of  man 
kind,  407  ;  public  spirit,  solitary 
workshop,  rmrtyrdom  from  visit 
ors,  408  ;  white  shield  invulnerable, 
409;  religious  attitude,  409-411; 
spiritual  influx,  creed,  412 ;  cler 
ical  relations,  413  ;  Dr.  Hague's 
criticism,  413,  414 ;  ameliorating 
religious  influence,  414  ;  freedom, 
415  ;  enduring  verse  and  thought, 
410,  417  ;  comparison  with  Jesus, 
417  ;  sincere  manhood,  418 ;  trans 
parency,  419. 


EMERSON'S  BOOKS  :  — 

Coaduet  of  Life,  229,  237. 

English  Traiia :  the  first  European 
trip,  G2  ;  published,  214  ;  aualy- 
bis,  214-220;  penetration,  383; 
Teutonic  fire,  380. 

Essays  :  Dickena's  allusion,  156  ; 
collected,  1GG. 

Essays,  second  series,  183. 
Lectures  and  Biographical  Sketch 
es,  128,  295,  290,  347. 

Letters  and  Social  Aims.  210,  283, 
284,  290. 

May-day  and  Other  Pieces,  161, 
•     192,  224,  242,  257,  310,  318,  346. 

Memoir  of  Margaret  Fuller,  209. 

Miscellanies,  302,  303. 

Nature,  Addresses,  and  Lectures, 
179. 

Nature  :  resemblance  of  extracts 
from  Mary  Moody  Emerson,  17  ; 
where  written,  70  ;  the  Many  in 
One,  73;  first  published,  91,  92, 
373  ;  analysis,  93-107  ;  obscure, 
108;  Beauty,  237. 

Parnassus  :  collected,  280  ;  Pref 
ace,  314  ;  allusion,  321. 

Poems,  293,  310,  318,  339. 

Representative  M°u,  19G-209. 

Selected  Poems,  311,  347. 

Society  and  Solitude,  250. 
EMERSON'S   ESSAYS,  LECTURES,  SER- 
MOXS,  SPEECHES,  etc.  :  — 

In  general  :  essays,  73,  88,  91, 
92,  310 ;  income  from  lectures, 
170,  191,  192  ;  lectures  in  Eng 
land,  194-190 ;  long  series,  372  ; 
lecture-room,  374 ;  plays  and 
lectures,  375  ;  double  duty,  376, 
377  ;  charm,  379.  (See  Emer 
son's  Life,  Lyceum,  etc. ) 

American  Civilization,  307. 

American  Scholar,  The,  107-115, 
133,  188. 

Anglo-Sixon  Race,  The,  210. 

Anti-Slavery  Address,  New  York, 
210-212. • 

Anti-Slavery  Lecture,  Boston,  210, 
211. 

Aristocracy.  290. 

Art,  ICG.  175,  253,  254. 

Bsauty,  235-237. 

Bshivior,  234. 

Books,  257,  380. 

Brown,  John,  302,  305,  306. 

Burke,  Edmund,  73. 

Burns,  Robert,  224,  225,  307. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  294,  302,  317. 

Cha^niner's  Poem,  preface,  262, 
263,403. 


430 


INDEX. 


Character,  183,  295,  297. 

Chardon  Street  and  Bible  Conven 
tion,  159,  302. 

Circles,  166,  174,  175. 

Civilization,  250-253. 

Clubs,  258. 

Comedy.  128. 

Comic,  The,  286,  287. 

Commodity,  94. 

Compensation,  106,  169. 

Concord  Fight,  the  anniversary 
speech,  292,  293. 

Concord,  Second  Centennial  Dis 
course,  84-86. 

Conservative,  The,  156,  157, 
159. 

Considerations  by  the  Way,  235. 

Courage,  259. 

Culture,  232,  233. 

Demonology,  128,  296. 

Discipline,  97,  98. 

Divinity  School  Address,  116-127, 
131. 

Doctrine  of  the  Soul,  127. 

Domestic  Life,  254,  255. 

Duty,  128. 

Editorial  Address,  Mass.  Quar 
terly  Review,  193,  302,  307. 

Education,  296,  297. 

Eloquence,  254 ;  second  essay, 
285,  286. 

Emancipation  in  the  British  West 
Indies,  181,  303. 

Emancipation  Proclamation,  228, 
307. 

Emerson,  Mary  Moody,  295,  296, 
302. 

English  Literature,  87. 

Experience,  182. 

Farming,  255,  256. 

Fate,  228-330. 

Fortune  of  the  Republic,  294, 302, 
307-309. 

Fox,  George,  73. 

France,  196. 

Free  Religious  Association,  243, 
302  307 

Friendship,  166,  170. 

Froude,  James  Anthony,  after- 
dinner  speech,  271. 

Fugitive  Slave  Law,  303,  304. 

Genius,  127. 

Gifts,  184,  185. 

Goethe,  or  the  Writer,  208,  209. 

Greatness,  288,  346. 

Harvard  Commemoration,  307. 

Heroism,  166,  172. 

Historical  Discourse,  at  Concord, 
303. 

Historic  Notes  of  Life  and  Letters 


in  New  England,  147,  165,  296, 
302 

History,  166.  167. 

Hoar,  Samuel,  213, 214,  295, 302. 

Home,  127. 

Hope,  284,  285. 

Howard  University,  speech,  263. 

Human  Culture,  87. 

Idealism,  98-100. 

Illusions,  235,  239. 

Immortality,  266,  290-292,  354. 

Inspiration,  289. 

Intellect,  166,  175. 

Kansas  Affairs,  305. 

Kossuth,  307. 

Language,  95-97. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  funeral  re 
marks,  242,  243,  307. 

Literary  Ethics,  131-136. 

Lord's  Supper,  57-60,  303. 

Love,  127, 128, 1G6, 170.  (See  Em 
erson's  Poems.) 

Luther,  73. 

Manners,  183,  234. 

Man  of  Letters,  The,  296,  298. 

Man  the  Reformer,  142,  143. 

Method  of  Nature,  The,  136-141. 

Michael  Angelo,  73,  75. 

Milton,  73,  75. 

Montaigne,  or  the  Skeptic,  202- 
204. 

Napoleon,  or  the  Man  of  the 
World,  206-209. 

Natural  History  of  the  Intellect, 
249,  268,  347. 

Nature  (the  essay),  185,  186,  398. 

New  England  Reformers,  188-191, 
385. 

Nominalism  and  Realism,  188. 

Old  Age,  261,  262. 

Over-Soul,  The,  166, 172-175,  398, 
411. 

Parker,  Theodore,  228,  306. 

Perpetual  Forces,  297. 

Persian  Poetry,  224. 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration,  347. 

Philosophy  of  History,  87. 

Plato,  198-200;  New  Readings, 
200. 

Plutarch,  295,  299-302. 

Plutarch's  Morals,  introduction, 
262. 

Poet,  The,  181,  182. 

Poetry,  210. 

Poetry  and  Imagination,  283 ;  sub 
divisions  :  Bards  and  Trouveurs, 
Creation,  Form,  Imagination, 
Melody,  Morals,  Rhythm,  Po 
etry,  Transcendency,  Veracity, 
283,  284 ;  quoted,  325. 


INDEX. 


431 


Politics,  186, 187. 
Power,  230,  231. 
Preacher,  The,  294,  298. 
Professions  of  Divinity,  Law,  and 

Medicine,  41. 
Progress    of    Culture,   The,   2-14, 

288. 

Prospects,  101-103. 
Protest,  The,  127. 
Providence  Sermon,  130. 
Prudence,  1G6,  171,  172. 
Quotation  and    Originality,    287, 

oss 

£OO. 

Relation  of  Man  to  the  Globe,  73. 

Resources,  286. 

Right  Hand  of  Fellowship,  The, 
at  Concord,  56. 

Ripley,  Dr.  Ezra,  295,  302. 

Scholar,  The,  296,  299. 

School,  The,  127. 

Scott,  speech,  302,  307. 

Self-Reliance,  166,  168,  411. 

Shakespeare,  or  the  Poet,  204- 
206. 

Social  Aims,  285. 

Soldiers'  Monument,  at  Concord, 
303. 

Sovereignty  of  Ethics,  The,  295, 
297,  298. 

Spirit,  100,  101. 

Spiritual  Laws,  166,  168. 

Success,  260,  261. 

Sumner  Assault,  304. 

Superlatives,  295,  297. 

Swedenborg,  or  the  Mystic.  201, 
202,  206. 

Thoreau,  Henry  D.,  228,  295,  302. 

Times,  The,  142-145. 

Tragedy,  127. 

Transcendentalist,  The,  145-155, 
159. 

Universality  of  the  Moral  Senti 
ment,  66. 

University  of  Virginia,  address, 
347. 

War,  88,  303. 

Water,  73. 

Wealth,  231,  232. 

What  is  Beauty  ?  74,  94,  95. 

Woman,  307,  308. 

Woman's  Rights,  212,  213. 

Work  and  Days,  256, 312,  406, 407. 

Worship,  235. 

Young  American,  The,  166.  180, 

181. 
EMERSON'S  POBMS  :  — 

In  general :  inspiration  from  na 
ture,  22,  96  ;  poetic  rank  in  col 
lege,  45,  46  ;  prose-poetry  and 
philosophy,  91, 93 ;  annual  affla 


tus,  in  America,  136,  137  ;  first 
volume,  192  ;  five  immortal  po 
ets,  202  ;  ideas  repeated,  239  ; 
true  position,  311  et  seq. ;  in 
carmine  verilas,  313 ;  litanies, 
314 ;  arithmetic,  321,  322  ;  fas 
cination,  323 ;  celestial  imagery, 
324  ;  tin  pans,  325  ;  realism, 
326;  metrical  difficulties,  327, 
335  ;  blemishes,  328  ;  careless 
rhymes,  329;  delicate  descrip 
tions,  331  ;  pathos,  332 ;  fasci 
nation,  333 ;  unfinished,  334, 
339,  340  ;  atmosphere,  335 ;  sub 
jectivity,  336 ;  sympathetic  il 
lusion,  337  ;  resemblances,  337, 
338 ;  rhythms,  340  ;  own  order, 
341,  342;  always  a  poet,  346. 
(See  Emerson's  Life,  Milton, 
Poets,  etc.) 

Adiron  'acs,  The,  242,  309,  327. 

Blight,  402. 

Boston,  346,  407,  408. 

Boston  Hymn,  211,  221,  241,  242. 

Brahma,  221,  242,  396,  397. 

Celestial  Love,  170.  (Three 
Loves.) 

Class  Day  Poem,  45-47. 

Concord  Hymn,  87,  332. 

Daemonic     Love,     170.        (Three 

Days,  221, 242, 257, 312 ;  pleached, 

3i3. 

Destiny,  332. 

Each  and  All,  73,  74,  94,  331. 
Earth-Song,  327. 
Elements,  242. 
Fate,  159,  387. 
Flute,  The,  399. 
Good-by,  Proud  World,  129,  130, 

338. 

Hamatreya,  327, 
Harp,  The,  320, 321, 329, 330.    (See 

jEolian  Harp.) 
Hoar,  Samuel,  213,  214. 
Humble  Bee,  46,  74,  75,  128,  272, 

326,  331,  338. 
Initial    Love,    170,  387.      (Three 

Loves. ) 

In  llemoriam,  19,  89. 
Latin  Translations,  43. 
May  Day,  242  ;  changes,  311,  333 
Merlin,  318,  319.    (Merlin's  Song.) 
Mithridates,  331. 
Monadnoc,  322,  331 ;   alterations, 

366. 

My  Garden,  242. 
Nature  and  Life,  242. 
Occasional      and     Miscellaneous 

Pieces,  242. 


432 


INDEX. 


Ode  inscribed  to  W.  H.  Channing, 

211,  212. 

Poet,  The,  317-320,  333. 
Preface  to  Nature,  105. 
Problem,  The,  159,  161,  253,  284, 

326,  337,  380. 
Quatrains,  223,  242. 
Rhodora,  The,  74,  94,  95,  129. 
Romany  Girl,  The,  221. 
Saadi,  221,  242. 
Sea-Shore,  333,  ?39. 
Snow-Storm,  331,  338, 339. 
Solution,  320. 
Song  for  Knights  of  Square  Table, 

42. 
Sphinx,  The,  113,  159,   243,  330, 

398. 
Terminus,  221,  242;    read  to  his 

son,  246-248,  303. 
Test,  The,  201,  202,  320. 
Threnody,  178,  333. 
Titmouse,  The,  221,  326. 
Translations,  242,  399. 
Uriel,  320,  331,  398. 
Voluntaries,  241. 
Waldoinsamkeit,  221. 
Walk,  The,  402. 
Woodnotes,  46,  159,  331,  338. 
World-Soul,  The,  331. 

Emersoniana,  358. 

Emerson,  Thomas,  of  Ipswich,  38. 

Emerson,  Waldo,  child  of  Ralph 
Waldo :  death,  177,  178 ;  anec 
dote,  265. 

Emerson,  William,  grandfather  of 
Ralph  Waldo  :  minister  of  Con 
cord,  8-10, 14 ;  building  the  Manse, 
70 ;  patriotism,  72. 

Emerson,  William,  father  of  Ralph 
Waldo  :  minister,  in  Harvard  and 
Boston,  10-14 ;  editorship,  20,  32, 
33 ;  the  parsonage,  37,  42  ;  death, 
43. 

Emerson,  William,  brother  of  Ralph 
Waldo,  37,  39,  49,  53. 

England  :  first  visit,  62-65 ;  Lake 
Windermere,  70 ;  philosophers, 
76 ;  the  virtues  of  the  people,  179, 
180 ;  a  second  visit,  192  et  seq.  ; 
notabilities  195  ;  the  lectures,  196  ; 
Stonehenge,  215  ;  the  aristocracy, 
215;  matters  wrong,  260;  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  trade  and  liberty,  304 : 
lustier  life,  335 ;  language,  352 ; 
lecturing,  a  key,  377 ;  smouldering 
fire,  385.  (Sse  America,  Europe, 
etc.) 

Enthusiasm :  need  of,  143 ;  weak 
ness,  154. 

Epicurus,  agreement  with,  301. 


Episcopacy:  in  Boston,  28,  34,  52; 
church  in  Newton,  68  ;  at  Hano 
ver,  132 ;  quotation  from  liturgy, 
354;  burial  service. 356.  (SeeCa/- 
vinism,  Church,  Religion,  etc.) 

Esquimau,  allusion,  167. 

Establishment,  party  of  the,  147. 
(See  Puritanism,  Religion,  Uni- 
tarianum,  etc.) 

Eternal,  relations  to  the,  297.  (See 
God,  Jesus,  Religion,  etc.) 

Europe :  Emerson's  first  visit,  62- 
65;  return,  72;  the  Muses,  114; 
debt  to  the  East,  120;  famous 
gentlemen,  184  ;  second  visit,  193- 
196 :  weary  of  Napoleon,  207  ;  re 
turn,  210:  conflict  possible,  218; 
third  visit,  271-279  ;  cast-out  pas 
sion  for,  308.  (See  America,  Eng 
land,  France,  etc.) 

Everett,  Edward:  on  Tudor,  28; 
literary  rank,  33 ;  preaching,  52  ; 
influence,  148. 

Evolution,  taught  in  "  Nature,"  105, 
106. 

Eyeball,  transparent,  398. 

FAITH:  lacking  in  America,  143, 
building  cathedrals,  253.  (See 
God,  Religion,  etc.) 

Fine,  a  characteristic  expression, 
405. 

Fire,  illustration,  386.  (See  Eng 
land,  France,  etc.) 

Forbes,  John  M.,  connected  with  the 
Emerson  family,  2C3-265  ;  his 
letter,  263. 

Foster,  John,  minister  of  Brighton. 
15. 

Fourth-of-July,  orations,  386.  (See 
America,  etc.) 

Fox,  George,  essay  on,  73. 

France  :  Emerson's  first  visit,  C2, 
63;  philosophers,  76:  Revolution, 
80;  tired  of  Napoleon,  207,  208; 
realism,  326 ;  wrath,  385, 386.  (See 
Carlyle,  England,  Europe,  etc.) 

Francis,  Convers,  at  a  party,  149. 

Franklin,  Benjamin  :  birthplace.  37  ; 
allusion,  184  ;  characteristics,  189 ; 
Poor  Richard,  231 ;  quoted,  236 ; 
maxims,  261  ;  fondness  for  Plu 
tarch,  382  ;  bequest,  407. 

Fraunhofer,  Joseph,  optician,  230, 
324. 

Frazer's  Magazine  :  "  The  Mud," 
79;  Sartor  Resartus,  81.  (See 
Carlyle.) 

Freeman,  James,  minister  of  King's 
Chapel,  11,  12,  52. 


Free  Trade,  Athenaeum  banquet, 
220. 

Frbnlship,  C.  C.  Emerson's  essay, 
22,  23,  77. 

Frothinglum,  Nathaniel  L.,  account 
of  E.uarson's  mother,  13. 

Frothingham,  O^tavius  Brooks  :  Life 
of  Ripley,  1G5 ;  an  unpublished 
manuscript,  305-367. 

Fuller,  Margaret :  borrowed  sermon, 
130 ;  at  a  party,  149 ;  The  Dial, 
159,  1GO,  1C2 ;  Memoir,  209  :  caus 
ing  laughter,  364 ;  mosaic  Biogra 
phy,  338. 

Furnsss,  William  Henry:  on  the 
Emerson  family,  14;  Emerson's 
funeral,  350,  353. 

Future,  party  of  the,  147. 

GALTON,  FBANCIS,  composite  por 
traits,  232. 

Gardiner,  John  Sylvester  John :  al 
lusion,  26;  leadership  in  Boston, 
28 ;  Anthology  Society,  32.  (See 
Episcopacy.) 

Gardner,  John  Lowell,  recollections 
of  Emerson's  boyhood,  38^12. 

Gardner,  S.  P.,  garden,  38. 

Genealogy,  survival  of  the  fittest,  3. 
(Sse  Heredity.) 

Gentleman's  Magazine,  30. 

Gentleman,  the,  183. 

Geography,  illustration,  391. 

German :  study  of,  48,  49,  73,  330 ; 
philosophers,  76 ;  scholarship,  148; 
oracles,  206  ;  writers  unread,  208 ; 
philosophers,  380 ;  professors,  391. 

Germany,  a  visit,  225,  226.  (See 
Europe,  France,  Goethe,  etc.) 

Gifts,  185. 

GilSllan,  George :  on  Emerson's 
preaching,  05 ;  Emerson's  phy 
sique,  330. 

Oilman,  Arthur,  on  the  Concord 
home,  83. 

Glasgow,  the  rectorship,  280. 

God  :  the  universal  spirit,  68,  69, 
94 ;  face  to  face,  92,  93 ;  teaching 
the  human  mind,  98,  99;  aliens 
from,  101 ;  in  us,  139-141  ;  his 
thought,  146 ;  bslief,  170 ;  seen  by 
man,  174;  divino  offer,  170  ;  writ 
ing  by  grace,  182 ;  presence,  243 : 
tribute  to  Great  First  Cause,  267  ; 
perplexity  about,  410 ;  ever-blessed 
One,  411  ;  mirrored,  412.  (See 
Christianity,  Religion,  etc. ) 

Goethe:  called  Mr.,Z\;  dead,  03; 
Clarke's  essay,  79;  generalizations, 
148;  influence,  150;  on  Spinoza, 
28 


INDEX.  433 


174,  175 :  rank  as  a  poet,  202,  320 ; 
lovers,  220 ;  rare  union,  324 ;  his 
books  read,  380,381;  times  quoted, 
382.  (S3e  German,  etc.) 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  his  Vicar  of 
Wakefield,  9,  10,  15. 

Good,  the  study  of,  301. 

Goodwin,  H.  B. ,  Concord  minister, 
56. 

Gould,  Master  of  Latin  School,  39. 

Gould,  Thomas  R.,  sculptor,  68. 

Gourdin,  John  Gaillard  Keith  and 
Robert,  in  college,  47. 

Government,  abolition  of,  141. 

Grandmother's  Review,  30. 

Gray,  Thomas,  Elegy  often  quoted, 
310,  317,  416. 

Greece :  poetic  teaching,  121 ;  allu 
sion,  168. 

Greek  :  Emerson's  love  for,  43, 44  ; 
in  Harvard,  49 ;  poets,  253 ;  moral 
ist,  299;  Bryant's  translation, 
378 ;  philosophers,  391.  (See  Ho 
mer,  etc. ) 

Greenough,  Horatio,  meeting  Emer 
son,  03. 

Grimm,  Hermann,  226. 

Guelfs  and  Ghibellines,  illustration, 
47. 

HAFIZ,  times  mentioned,  382.  (See 
Persia.) 

Hague,  William,  essay,  413. 

Haller,  Albert  von,  rare  union,  324. 

Harvard,  Mass.,  William  Emerson's 
settlement,  10,  11. 

Harvard  University :  the  Bulkeley 
gift,  6  ;  William  Emerson's  gradu 
ation,  10 ;  list  of  graduates,  12 ; 
Emerson's  brothers,  19,  21  ;  Reg 
ister,  21,  24,  385,  401  :  Hillard,  24, 
25 ;  Kirkland's  presidency,  26, 
27  :  Gardner,  39-41 ;  Emerson's 
connection,  44-49  ;  the  Boylston 
prizes,  40 ;  Southern  students, 
47 ;  graduates  at  Andover,  48 ; 
Divinity  School,  51,  53;  a  New 
England  centre,  52  ;  Bowen's  pro 
fessorship,  103 ;  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
oration,  107,  115,  133,  188,  244; 
Divinity  School  address,  1 16-132  ; 
degree  conferred,  246 ;  lectures, 
249 ;  library,  257  ;  last  Divinity 
address,  294  ;  Commemoration, 
307  ;  singing  class,  361  ;  graduates, 
411.  (S^e  Cambridge.) 

Haskins,  David  Green,  at  Emerson's 
funeral,  356. 

Haskins,  Ruth  (Emerson's  mother), 
10,  13,  14. 


434 


INDEX. 


Haughty,  a  characteristic  expres 
sion,  405. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel :  his  Mosses, 
70;  "  dream  -  peopled  solitude," 
8G  ;  at  the  club,  223  ;  view  of  Eng 
lish  life,  335  ;  grave,  356  ;  biogra 
phy,  3G8. 

Hazlitt,  William  :  British  Poets,  21. 
Health,  inspiration,  289. 
Hebrew  Language,  study,  48.     (See 

Bible.) 
Hedge,  Frederic  Henry  :  at  a  party, 

149 ;  quoted,  383. 
Henry  VII.,  tombs,  415. 
Herbert,   George :    Poem  on   Man, 
102  ;  parallel,  170 ;  poetry,  281 ;  a 
line  quoted,  345. 
Herder,  Johaim  Gottfried,  allusion, 

16. 

Heredity :  Emerson's  belief,  1,   2 ; 
in  Emerson  family,  4,  19  ;  Whip- 
pie  on,  389  ;  Jouson,  393. 
Herrick,  Robert,  poetry,  281. 
Higginson,     Thomas      Wentworth. 
(See Emerson'1  s  Hooks,  — Nature.) 
Hilali,  The  Flute,  399. 
Hillard,  George  Stillman :  in  college, 
24,  25  ;  his  literary  place,  33 ;  aid, 
276 
Hindoo  Scriptures,   199,  200.     (See 

Bible,  India,  etc.) 
History,  how  it  should  be  written, 

1C8. 

Hoar,  Ebenezer  Rockwood  :   refer 
ence  to,  223  ;  on  the  Burns  speech, 
225  ;  kindness,  273,  274,  276-279 ; 
at  Emerson's  death-bed,  349  ;  fu 
neral  address,  351-353. 
Hoar,  Samuel :  statesman,  72  ;  trib 
ute,  213,  214. 
Holland,  description  of  the  Dutch, 

217. 

Holley,  Horace,  prayer,  267. 
Holmes,  John,  a  pupil  of  Emerson, 

50. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell :  memories 
of  Dr.  Ripley,  15 ;  of  C.  C.  Emer 
son,  20,  21 ;  familiarity  with  Cam 
bridge  and  its  college,  45  ;  errone 
ous  quotation  from,  251,  252  ;  jest 
erroneously  attributed  to,  400, 401. 
Holy  Ghost,  "a  new  born  bard  of 
the,"  123.  (See  Christ,  God,  Re 
ligion,  etc.) 

Homer :  poetic  rank,  202,  320  ;  pla 
giarism,  205  ;  Iliad,  253  ;  allusion, 
315  ;  tin  paus,  325  ;  times  quoted, 
382.  (See  Greek,  etc.) 
Homer,  Jonathan,  minister  of  New 
ton,  15. 


Hooper,  Mrs.  Ellen,  The  Dial,  159, 
160. 

Hope :  lacking  in  America,  143  ;  in 
every  essay,  284. 

Horace :  allusion,  22  ;  Ars  Poetica, 
316. 

Horses,  Flora  Temple's  time,  388. 

Howard  University,  speech,  263. 

Howe,  Samuel  Gridley,  the  philan 
thropist,  223. 

Hunt,  Leigh,  meeting  Emerson,  195. 

Hunt,  William,  the  painter,  223. 

IDEALISM,  98-100, 146,  150. 

Idealists :  Ark  full,  191 ;  Platonic 
sense,  391. 

Imagination :  the  faculty,  141  ;  de 
fined,  237,  238  ;  essay,  283  ;  color 
ing  life,  324. 

Imbecility,  231. 

Immortality,  262.  (See  God,  Re 
ligion,  etc.) 

Incompleteness,  in  poetry,  339. 

India :  poetic  models,  338 ;  idea  of 
preexistence,  391 ;  Brahmanism, 
397.  (See  Emerson'1!  Poems, 
—  Brahma.) 

Indians :  in  history  of  Concord,  71  ; 
Algpnquins,  72. 

Inebriation,  subject  in  Monthly  An 
thology,  30. 

Insects,  defended,  190. 

Inspiration:  of  Nature,  22,  96, 141 ; 
urged,  146. 

Instinct,  from  God  or  Devil,  393. 

Intellect,  confidence  in,  134. 

Intuition,  394. 

Ipswich,  Mass.,  3,  4,  8. 

Ireland,  Alexander :  glimpses  of 
Emerson,  44,  64,  65 ;  reception, 
193,  194  ;  on  Carlyle,  196  ;  letter 
from  Miss  Peabody,  317  :  quoting 
Whitman,  344 ;  quoted,  350. 

Irving,  Washington,  33. 

Italy :  Emerson's  first  visit,  62,  63  ; 
Naples,  113. 

JACKSON,  CHARLES,  garden,  38. 

Jackson,  Dr.  Charles  Thomas,  anaes 
thesia,  403. 

Jackson,  Miss  Lydia,  reading  Car 
lyle,  81.  ( See  Mrs.  Emerson. ) 

Jahn,  Johann,  studied  at  Andover, 
48. 

Jameson,  Anna,  new  book,  131. 

Jesus :  times  mentioned,  382 ;  a 
divine  manifestation,  411  ;  fol 
lowers,  417  ;  and  Emerson,  419. 
(See  Bible,  Christ,  Church,  Re 
ligion,  etc. ) 


INDEX. 


435 


Joachim,  the  violinist,  225,  226. 
Johnson,  Samuel,  literary  style,  29. 
Jonson,  Ben  :    poetic  rank,  281  ;  a 

phrase,    300 ;     traduclion,     393. 

(See  Heredity,  etc.) 
Journals,  as  a  method  of  work,  384. 
Jupiter  Scapin,  207. 
Jury  Trial,  and  dinners,  216. 
Justice,  the  Arch  Abolitionist,  306. 
Juvenal :  allusion,  22 ;  precept  from 

heaven,  252. 

KALAMAZOO,  Mich.,  allusion,  388. 

Kamschatka,  allusion,  167. 

Keats,  John  :  quoted,  92  ;  Ode  to  a 

Nightingale,   316  ;  faint,   swoon. 

405. 

King,  the,  illustration,  74. 
Kirkland,  John  Thornton  :  Harvard 

presidency,  2G,  52  ;  memories,  27. 
Koran,  allusion,  198.     (See  Bible, 

God,  Religion,  etc.) 

LABOR  :  reform,  141  ;  dignity,  142. 

Lacenaire,  evil  instinct,  392. 

Laertius,  Diogenes,  390,  391. 

La  Harpe,  Jean  Francois,  on  Plu 
tarch,  301. 

Lamarck,  theories,  166. 

Lamb,  Charles,  Carlyle's  criticism, 
196. 

Landor,  Walter  Savage,  meeting 
Emerson,  63. 

Landscape,  never  painted,  339,  240. 
(See  Pictures,  etc.) 

Language  :  its  symbolism,  95-97  ;  an 
original,  394. 

Latin  :  Peter  Bulkeley's  scholarship, 
7 ;  translation,  24,  25  ;  Emerson's 
Translations,  43,  44. 

Laud,  Archbishop,  6. 

Law,  William,  mysticism,  396. 

Lawrence,  Mass.,  allusion,  44. 

Lecturing,  given  up,  295.  (See  Em 
erson's  Essays,  Lectures,  ets. ) 

Leibnita,  386. 

Leroux,  Pierre,  preexistence,  391. 

Letters,  inspiration,  289. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  character,  307. 
(Sse  Emerson's  Essays.) 

Linnaeus,  illustration,  323,  324. 

Litanies,  in  Emerson,  314.  (See 
Episcopacy.) 

Literature  :  aptitude  for,  2,  3 ;  ac 
tivity  in  1820,  147. 

Little  Classics,  edition,  347. 

Liverpool,  Eng.,  a  visit,  193,  194. 
(See  England,  Europe,  Scotland, 
etc.) 

Locke,  John,  allusion,  16,  111. 


London,  England.  :  Tower  Stairs, 
63  ;  readers,  194  ;  sights,  221 ; 
travellers,  308  ;  wrath,  385.  (sjee 
England,  etc.) 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth  : 
allusions,  31,  33  ;  Saturday  Club, 
222,  223 ;  burial,  346. 

Lord,  Nathan,  President  of  Dart 
mouth  College,  132. 

Lord's  Supper,  Emerson's  doubts, 
57-61. 

Lothrop  &  Co.,  publishers,  83. 

Louisville,  Ky.,  Dr.  Clarke's  resi 
dence,  78-80. 

Lounsbury,  Professor,  Chaucer  let 
ter,  205. 

Love  :  in  America,  143 ;  the  Arch 
Abolitionist,  306.  (See  Emerson's 
Poems.) 

Lowell,  Charles :  minister  of  the 
West  Church,  11, 12,  52  ;  on  Kirk- 
land,  27. 

Lowell,  F.  C.,  generosity,  276. 

Lowell,  James  Russell :  an  allusion, 
33  ;  on  The  American  Scholar,  107  ; 
editorship,  221 ;  club,  223  ;  on  the 
Burns  speech,  225  ;  on  Emerson's 
bearing,  360,  361 ;  Hawthorne 
biography,  368  ;  on  lectures,  379. 

Lowell,  Mass. ,  factories,  44. 

Luther,  Martin :  lecture,  73 ;  his  con 
servatism,  298  ;  times  mentioned, 
382. 

Lyceum,  the :  a  pulpit,  88  ;  New 
England,  192;  a  sacrifice,  378. 
(See  Lecturing,  Emerson's  Lec 
tures,  etc. 

Lycurgus,  306.     (See  Greece.) 

MACKINTOSH,  SIR  JAMES,  an  allusion, 

16. 

Macmillan's  Magazine,  414. 
Maiden,  Mass.  :  Joseph  Emerson'a 

ministry,  8  ;  diary,  17. 
Man  :  a  fable  about,  109,  110  ;  faith 

in,  122  ;  apostrophe,  140. 
Manchester,  Eng. :  visit,  194,  195 ; 

banquet,  220.    (See  England,  etc. ) 
Marlowe,  Christopher,  expressions, 

404. 
Marvell,  Andrew :  reading  by  C.  C. 

Emerson,  21 ;  on  the  Dutch,  217  ; 

verse,  338. 

Mary,  Queen,  her  martyrs,  418. 
Massachusetts    Historical  Society  : 

tribute toC.  C.  Emerson,  21 ;  qual 
ity  of  its  literature,  84 ;  oa  Car- 

lyle,  294. 
Jlafs'tehu'sstte    Quarterly    Review. 

193,  302,  307,  411. 


436 


INDEX. 


Materialism,  146,  391. 
ffion.) 

Mather,  Cotton  :  his  Magnalia,  5-7  ; 
on  Concord  discord,  57;  on  New 
England  Melancholy,  216  ;  a  bor 
rower,  3S1. 

Maths w,  Father,  disciples,  368. 

Mayhew,  Jonathan,  Boston  minister, 
51. 

Melioration,  a  characteristic  expres 
sion,  405. 

Mention,  Mass.,  Joseph  Emerson's 
ministry,  4. 

Mephistopheles,  Goethe's  creation, 
208. 

Merrimac  River,  71. 

Metaphysics,  indifference  to,  249. 

Methodism,  in  Boston,  50.  (See 
Father  Taylor.) 

Michael  Angelo :  allusions,  73,  75 ; 
on  external  beauty,  99 ;  course, 
2CO  ;  filled  with  God,  2S4 ;  on  im 
mortality,  290 ;  times  mentioned, 
382. 

Middlesex  Agricultural  Association, 
235.  (See  Agriculture,  Emerson's 
Essays. ) 

Middl3  jex  Association,  Emerson  ad 
mitted,  53. 

Millar's  Retrospect,  34. 

Milton,  John :  influence  in  New  Eng 
land,  1C;  quotation,  24 ;  essay,  73, 


monies,  328;  Lycidas,  333;  Comus, 
333 ;  times  mentioned,  382 ;  pre 
cursor,  quotation,  415 

Miracles:  false  impression,  121,  122; 
and  idealism,  140;  theories,  191; 
St.  Januarius,  217;  objections, 
244.  (See  Bible,  Christ,  Religion, 
etc.) 

Modena,  Italy,  Emerson's  visit,  63. 

Monadnoc,  Mount,  70. 

Montaigne  :  want  of  religion,  300 ; 
great  authority,  380 ;  times  quoted, 
382. 

Montesquieu,  on  immortality,  291. 

Monthly  Anthology :  Wm.  Emerson's 
connection,  13,  2G ;  precursor  of 
North  American  Review,  28,  29 ; 
character,  30.  31 ;  Qnincy's  trib 
ute,  31  ;  Society  formed,  32 ; 
career,  33 ;  compared  with  The 
Dial,  160. 

Moody  Family,  of  York,  Me.,  8, 10. 


Morals,  in  Plutarch,  301. 

Morison,  John  Hopkins,  on  Emer 
son's  preachinp,  07. 

Mormons,  264,  208. 

Mother-wit,  a  favorite  expression, 
404,  405. 

Motloy,  John  Lothrop,  33,  223. 

Mount  Auburn,  stroll;;,  40. 

Movement,  party  of  the,  147. 

Munroe  &  Co.,  publishers,  81. 

Music  :  church,  306 ;  inaptitude  for, 
3C1 ;  great  composers,  401. 

Musketaquid  River,  22,  70,  71. 

Mysticism  :  unintelligiole,  390 ;  Em 
erson's,  396. 

NAPOLEON  :  allusion,  197  ;  times 
mentioned,  382. 

Napoleon  III..  225. 

Nation,  The,  Emerson's  interest  in, 
348. 

Native  Bias,  288. 

Nature  :  in  undress,  72  ;  solicita 
tions,  110 ;  not  truly  studied,  135 ; 
great  men,  199 ;  tortured,  402. 
(Sse  Emerson's  Books,  Emerson's 
Essays,  etc.) 

Negations,  to  be  shunned,  285. 

New  Bedford,  Mass.,  Emerson's 
preaching,  52,  67. 

Newbury,  Mass.,  Edward  Emerson's 
dsacouchip,  8. 

New  England  :  families,  2,  3,  5 ;  Pe 
ter  Bulkeley's  coming,  6 ;  clerical 
virtues,  9  ;  Church,  14  ;  literary 
sky,  33 ;  domestic  service,  34,  35  ; 
two  centres,  52  ;  an  ideal  town, 
70,  71  ;  the  Delphi,  72 ;  Carlyla 
invited,  83  ;  anniversaries,  84  ; 
town  records,  85 ;  Genesis,  102 ; 
effect  of  Nature,  106  ;  boys  and 
girls,  163 ;  Massachusetts,  Con 
necticut  River,  172 ;  lyceums, 
192 ;  melancholy,  216 ;  New  Eng- 
landers  and  Old,  220 ;  meaning 
of  a  word,  296,  297 ;  eyes,  325  ; 
life,  325,  335 ;  birthright,  364 ;  a 
thorough  New  Englander,  406  ; 
Puritan,  4C9 ;  theologians,  410  ; 
Jesus  wandering  in,  419.  (See 
America,  England,  etc.) 

Newspapers :    defaming  the  noble, 

145  ;  in  Shakespeare's  day,  204. 
j  Newton,   Mass.  :    its  minister,    15  ; 
Episcopal  Church,  68.    (See  Rice.) 

Nev/ton,  Sir  Isaac,  times  quoted, 
382. 

Newton,  Stuart,  sketches,  130. 

New  World,  gospel,  371.  (See  Amer 
ica.) 


INDEX. 


437 


New  York:  Brevoort  House,  246; 
Gena^logiojil  Sociaty,  413. 

Niagara,  visit,  203. 

Nidivsr,  George,  ballad,  259. 

Nighim^ale,  Florence,  220. 

Nithsdale,  Eng.,  mountains,  78. 

No:i-R33i3tanc3,  141. 

North  Am3rican  Review  :  its  prede 
cessor,  28,  29,  33  ;  the  writsrs, 
34  ;  Emerson's  contributions,  73 ; 
Ethics,  294,  293 ;  Bryant's  article, 
328. 

Northampton,  Mass.,  Emerson's 
preaching,  53. 

Norton,  Andrews:  literary  rank, 
34  ;  professorship,  52. 

Norton,  Charles  Eliot :  editor  of 
Correspondence,  82 ;  on  Emer 
son's  genius,  373. 

OLD  MANSE,  THE  :  allusion,  70 ;  fire, 
271-279.  (Srse  Concord.) 

Oliver,  Daniel,  in  Dartmouth  Col 
lege,  132. 

Optimism  :  in  philosophy,  136  ;  "in 
nocent  luxuriance,"  211 ;  wanted 
by  the  young,  373. 

Oriental :  pjanius,  120  ;  spirit  in  Em- 
eraon,  179. 

Orpheus,  allusion,  319. 

PAINE,  R.  T.,  JR.,  quoted,  31. 

Palirey,  John  Gorham :  literary 
rank,  34  ;  professorship,  52. 

Pan,  the  deity,  1-10. 

Pantheism :  in  Wordsworth  and  Na 
ture,  103 ;  dreaded,  141 ;  Emer 
son's,  410, 411. 

Paris,  France  :  as  a  residence,  78 ; 
allusion,  167  ;  salons,  184 ;  visit, 
196,  308. 

Parksr,  Theodore  :  a  right  arm  of 
freedom,  127  ;  at  a  party,  149  ; 
The  Dial,  139,  160 ;  editorship, 
193 ;  death,  228  ;  essence  of  Chris 
tianity,  SOU;  biography,  368;  on 
Emerson's  position,  411. 

Parkhurst,  John,  studied  at  Ando- 
ver,  48. 

Parr,  S?m  icl,  allusion,  28. 

Past,  party  of  the,  147. 

Peabody,  Andrew  Preston,  literary 
rank,  34. 

Peabody,  Elizabeth  Palmer :  her  .Es 
thetic  Papers,  88;  letter  to  Mr. 
Ireland,  317. 

Peiroe,  Benjamin,,  mathematician, 
223. 

Pelagianism,  51.    (See  Religion. ) 

Pepys,  Samuel,  allusion,  12. 


Pericles,  184,  253. 

Portia,  poatio    models,  338.     (See 
Emerson's  Poems,  Saadi.) 
;;,u.ii;;:u,  230.     (830  Optimism.) 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  society,  184. 

Philanthropy,  activity  in  1820,  147. 

Philolaus,  199. 

Pie,  fondness  for,  269. 

Pierce,  John :  the  minister  of  Brook- 
line,  11 ;  "  our  clerical  Popys,"  12. 

Pindar,  odes,  253.  (&se  Greek,  Ho 
mer,  etc.) 

.Tgiaris-n,  205,  206,  287,  288,  384. 
(See  Quotations,  Mal/ier,  etc.) 

PI  'to  :  influence  on  Mary  Emerson, 
16,  17  ;  over  Emerson,  22,  52,  173, 
188,  299,  301 ;  youthful  essay,  74  ; 
Alcott's  study,  150 ;  reading,  197  ; 
borrowed  thought,  205,  20G ;  Pla 
tonic  idea,  222  ;  a  Platonist,  267  ; 
saints  of  Plitonism,  298;  acad 
emy  inscription,  365;  great  au 
thority,  380  ;  times  quoted,  382  ; 
Symposium  and  Phisdrus  quoted, 
387  ;  tablcity,  preexiotence,  391 ; 
Diogenes  dialogue,  401  ;  a  Plato- 
nist,  411.  (See  Emerson's  Books, 
and  Essays,  Greek,  etc.) 

Plotinus  :  influence  over  Mary  Em 
erson,  16,  17 ;  ashamed  of  his 
body,  99 ;  motto,  105 ;  opinions, 
173,  174  ;  studied,  380. 

Plutarch :  allusion,  22  ;  his  Lives, 
50 :  study,  197 ;  on  immortality, 
291 ;  influence  over  Emerson,  299 
el  scq. ;  his  great  authority,  380  ; 
times  mentioned,  382 ;  Emerson 
on,  383  ;  imagery  quoted,  385  ; 
style,  405. 
Plymouth,  Mass.  :  letters  written, 

78,  79 ;  marriage,  83. 
Poetry :  as  an  inspirer,  290 ;  Milton 

on,  315.     (See  Shakespenre,  etc.) 
Posts  :  list  in  Parnassus,  281  ;  com 
parative  popularity,  316, 317  :  con 
sulting  Emerson,  408.     (See  E'.n- 
erson'.i  Poems.) 
Politics:  activity  in  1820,  147;  in 

Saturday  Club,  259. 
Pomeroy,  Jesse,  allusion,  393. 
Pope,  Alexander,  familiar  lines,  316 

i  Porphyry :  opinions,  173,  174  ;  stud- 

!      ied,  380. 

;  Porto  Rico,  E.  B.  Emerson's  death, 
19. 

i  Power,  practical,  259. 

j  Prayer  :  not  enough,  138,  139  ;  an 
ecdotes,  267.    (See  God,  Keligion, 
etc.) 
Preaching,  a  Christian  blessing,  123. 


438 


INDEX. 


Preexistence,  391. 

Presbyterianism,  in  Scotland,  409. 

Prescott,  William,  the  Judge's  man 
sion,  38. 

Prescott,  William  Hickling :  rank, 
33 ;  Conquest  of  Mexico,  38. 

Prior,  Matthew,  30. 

Proclus,  influence,  173,  380. 

Prometheus,  209. 

Prospects,  for  man,  101-103.  (See 
Emerson's  Essays. ) 

Protestantism,  its  idols,  28.  (See 
Charming,  Religion,  Unitarian* 
i.tm,  etc.) 

Psammetichus,  an  original  language, 
394.  (See  Heredity,  Language, 
etc.) 

Punch,  London,  204. 

Puritans,  rear  guard,  15.  (See  Cal 
vinism,  etc.) 

Puritanism :  relaxation  from,  30  ; 
after-clap,  268 ;  in  New  England, 
409.  (See  Unitarianism.) 

Putnam's  Magazine,  on  Samuel 
Hoar,  213,  214. 

Pythagoras  :  imagery  quoted,  385  ; 
preexistence,  391. 

QUAKEES,  seeing  only  broad-brims, 
218. 

Quincy,  Josiah  :  History  of  Boston 
Athenseum,  31 ;  tribute  to  the  An 
thology,  32.  33  ;  memories  of  Em 
erson,  45-47  ;  old  age,  261. 

Quotations,  381-383.  (See  Plagia 
rism,  etc.) 

RALEIGH,  SIR  WALTER,  verse,  338. 

Raphael,  his  Transfiguration,  134. 
(See  Allston,  Painters,  etc.) 

Rats,  illustration,  167,  168. 

Reed,  Sampson,  his  Growth  of  the 
Mind,  80. 

Reforms,  in  America,  141-145. 

Reformers,  fairness  towards,  156, 
157,  188-192.  (See  Anti-Slavery, 
John  Brown. ) 

Religion  :  opinions  of  Wm.  Emerson 
and  others,  11-13 ;  nature  the 
symbol  of  spirit,  95 ;  pleas  for  in 
dependence,  117  ;  universal  senti 
ment,  118-120  ;  public  rites,  152  ; 
Church  of  England,  219 ;  of  the 
future,  235  ;  relative  positions  to 
wards,  409,  410 ;  Trinity,  411  ; 
Emerson's  belief,  412-415  ;  bigotry 
modified,  414.  (See  Calvinism, 
Chnnning,  Christ,  Emerson's  Life, 
Essays,  and  Poems,  Episcopacy, 
God,  Unitarianism.,  etc.) 


Republicanism,  spiritual,  36. 

Revolutionary  War :  Wm.  Emerson's 
service,  8,  9 ;  subsequent  confu 
sion,  25,  32;  Concord's  part,  71, 
72,  292,  293.  (See  America,  JVew 
England,  etc.) 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  228. 

Rhythm,  328,  329,  340.  (See  Emer 
son's  Poems,  etc.) 

Rice,  Alexander  H. ,  anecdote,  68. 
69,346.  (See  Newton.) 

Richard  Plantagenet,  197. 

Ripley,  Ezra  :  minister  of  Concord, 
10  ;  Emerson's  sketch,  14-16  ; 
garden,  42;  colleague,  56;  resi 
dence,  70. 

Ripley,  George  :  a  party,  149  ;  The 
Dial,  159 ;  Brook  Farm,  164-166  ; 
on  Emerson's  limitations,  380. 

Robinson,  Edward,  literary  rank, 
34. 

Rochester,  N.  Y.,  speech,  168. 

Rome :  allusions,  167,  168  ;  growth, 
222  ;  amphora,  321.  (See  Latin.) 

Romilly,  Samuel,  allusion,  220. 

Rose,  anecdote,  345.    (See  Flowers. ) 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  his  Savoy 
ard  Vicar,  51,  52. 

Ruskin,  John  :  on  metaphysics,  250  ; 
certain  chapters,  336 ;  pathetic 
fallacy,  337  ;  plagiarism,  384. 

Russell,  Ben.,  quoted,  267. 

Russell,  Ls  Baron  :  on  Sartor  Resar- 
tus,  81,  82  ;  groomsman,  83  ;  aid 
in  rebuilding  the  Old  Manse,  272-- 
279  ;  Concord  visit,  345. 

SAADI  :  a  borrower,  205 ;  times  men 
tioned,  382.  (See  Persia.) 

Sabbath  :  a  blessing  of  Christianity, 
123,  298. 

Sainte-Beuve,  Charles  Augustin,  on 
poetry,  339. 

Saint  Paul,  times  mentioned,  382. 
(See  Bible.) 

Saladin,  184. 

Sallust,  on  Catiline,  207. 

Sanborn,  Frank  B.  :  facts  about  Em 
erson,  42, 43,  66  ;  Tlioreau memoir, 
363  ;  old  neighbor,  373. 

Sapor,  184. 

Satan,  safety  from,  306.  (See  Meph- 
istopheles,  Religion,  etc.) 

Saturday  Club :  establishment,  221- 
223,  258  ;  last  visits,  346,  347 ; 
familiarity  at,  368. 

Sciliger,  quotation,  109,  110. 

Scheming,  idealism,  148 ;  influence, 
173. 

Schiller,  on  immortality,  290. 


INDEX. 


439 


Scholarship  :  a  priesthood,  137  ;  do 
cility  of,  289. 

School- teaching,  297.  (See  C helms- 
ford.) 

Schopenhauer,  Arthur :  his  pessi 
mism,  286;  idea  of  a  philosopher, 
359. 

Science  :  growth  of,  148 ;  Emerson 
inaccurate  in,  256 ;  attitude  to 
ward,  401,  402.  (See  C.  C.  Emer 
son.) 

Scipio,  184. 

Scotland  :  Carlyle's  haunts,  79  ;  no 
tabilities,  195,  196 ;  Presbyterian, 
409. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter :  allusion,  22  ;  quo 
tations,  23,  77;  dead,  63;  "the 
hand  of  Douglas,"  234  ;  as  a  poet, 
281 ;  popularity,  316 ;  poetic  rank, 
321. 

Self  :  the  highest,  113  ;  respect  for, 
288,  289. 

Seneca,  Montaigne's  study,  382. 

Shakespeare  :  allusion,  22  ;  Hamlet, 
99,  94;  Benedick  and  love,  106; 
disputed  line,  128,  129;  an  idol, 
197;  poetic  rank,  202,  281,  320, 
321  ;  plagiarism,  204-206  ;  on 
studies,  257, 258  ;  supremacy,  328 ; 
a  comparison,  374  ;  a  playwright, 
375,  376 ;  punctiliousness  of  Por 
tia,  378  ;  times  mentioned,  382  ; 
lunatic,  lover,  poet,  337  ;  Polo- 
nius,  389 ;  mother-wit,  404 ;  fine 
Ariel,  405  ;  adamant,  416. 

Shattuck,  Lemuel,  History  of  Con 
cord,  382. 

Shaw,  Lemuel,  hoarding-place,  43. 

Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe  :  Ode  to  the 
West  Wind,  316,  399  ;  redundant 
syllable,  328  ;  Adonais,  333. 

Shenandoah  Mountain,  396. 

Shingle,  Emerson's  jest,  364. 

Ships :  illustration  of  longitude,  154 ; 
erroneous  quotation,  251,  252  ; 
building  illustration,  376,  377. 

Sicily  :  Emerson's  visit,  62 ;  Etna, 
113. 

Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  Chevy  Chace,  379. 

Silsbee,  William,  aid  in  publishing 
Carlyle,  81. 

Simonides,  prudence,  410. 

Sisyphus,  illustration,  334. 

Sleight-of-hand,  illustration,  332. 

Smith,  James  and  Horace,  Rejected 
Addresses,  387,  397. 

Smith,  Sydney,  on  bishops,  219. 

Socrates  :  allusion,  203 ;  times  men 
tioned,  382. 

Solitude,  sought,  135. 


Solomon,  epigrammatic,  405.  (See 
Bible.) 

Solon,  199. 

Sophron,  199. 

South,  the :  Emerson's  preaching 
tour,  53 ;  Rebellion,  305, 407.  (See 
America,  Anti-Slavery,  etc.) 

Southerners,  in  college,  47. 

Sparks,  Jared,  literary  rank,  33. 

Spenser,  Edmund :  stanza,  335, 338 ; 
soul  making  body,  391 ;  mother- 
wit,  404. 

Spinoza,  influence,  173,  380. 

Spirit  and  matter,  100,  101.  (See 
God,  Religion,  Spenser,  etc.) 

Spiritualism,  296. 

Sprague,  William  Buel,  Annals  of 
the  American  Pulpit,  10-12. 

Stanley,  Arthur  Penrhyn,  on  Amer 
ican  religion,  414. 

Star:  "hitch  your  wagon  to  a 
star,"  252,  253;  stars  in  poetry, 
324. 

Sterling,  J.  Hutchinson,  letter  to, 
282,  283. 

Stewart,  Dugald,  allusion,  16. 

Story,  Joseph,  literary  rank,  33. 

Stuart,  Moses,  literary  rank,  33. 

Studio,  illustration,  20. 

Summer,  description,  117. 

Sumner,  Charles :  literary  rank,  33 : 
the  outrage  on,  211 :  Saturday 
Club,  223. 

Swedenhorg,  Emanuel :  poetic  rank, 
202,  320 ;  dreams,  306 ;  Rosetta- 
Stone,  322  :  times  mentioned, 
382. 

Swedenborgians :  liking  for  a  paper 
of  Carlyle's,  78 ;  Reed's  essay,  80 ; 
spiritual  influx,  412. 

Swift,  Jonathan :  allusion,  30 ;  the 
Houyhnhnms,  163;  times  men 
tioned,  382. 

Synagogue,  illustration,  169. 

TAPPAN,  MRS.  CAROLINE,  The  Dial, 
159. 

Tartuffe,  allusion,  312. 

Taylor,  Father,  relation  to  Emer 
son,  55,  56,  413. 

Taylor,  Jeremy :  allusion, 22 ;  Emer 
son's  study,  52 ;  "  the  Shakespeare 
of  divines,"  94;  praise  for,  306. 

Teague,  Irish  name,  143. 

Te  Deum :  the  hymn,  68 ;  illustra 
tion,  82. 

Temperance,  the  reform,  141,  152. 
(See  Reform*.) 

Tennyson,  Alfred :  readers,  256;  to 
bacco,  270 ;  poetic  rank,  281 ;  In 


440 


INDEX. 


Memoriam,    333;   on  plagiarism, 

334. 
Thaoher,  Samuel  Cooper  :   allusion, 

20  ;  death,  29. 
Thayer,  James  B.  :  Western  Journey 

with  Emerson,  249,  203,  205-271, 

359  ;  ground  swell,  304.    (See  Cal 

ifornia.) 

Thinkers,  let  loose,  175. 
Thomson,  James,  descriptions,  338. 
Thoreau,  Henry  D.  :  allusion,  22  ;  a 

Crusos,  72;  "nulliner  of  civiliza 


,  - 

place,  350  ;  biography,  308  ;  person 

ality  traceable,  380  ;   woodcraft, 

403. 
Ticknor,  George  :  on  William  Emer 

son,  12  ;  on  Kirkland,  27  ;  literary 

rank,  33. 
Traduction,   393.     (See   Heredity, 

Jonson,  etc.) 
Transcendentalism  :  Bowen's  paper, 

103,  104;    idealism,  146;   adher 

ents,  150-152  ;  dilettanteism,  152- 

155  ;  a  terror,  101. 
Transcendentalist,  The,  157-159. 
Truth  :  as  an  end,  99  ;  sought,  135. 
Tudor,  William  :  allusion,  20  ;  con 

necting  literary  link,  28,  29. 
Turgot,  quoted,  98,  99. 
Tyburn,  allusion,  183. 

UNITARIANISM  :  Dr.  Freeman's,  11, 
12  ;  nature  of  Jesus,  13  ;  its  sun 
shine,  28  ;  white-handed,  34  ;  head 
quarters,  35  :  lingual  studies,  48, 
49;  transition,  51;  domination, 
52  ;  pulpits,  53,  54  ;  chapel  in  Ed 
inburgh,  05;  file-leaders,  118;  its 
organ,  124  ;  "  pale  negations,"  298. 
(See  Religion,  Trinity,  etc.) 

United  States,  intellectual  history, 
32.  (See  America,  New  England, 
etc.) 

Unity,  in  diversity,  73,  10R,  284. 

Upham,  Charles  W.,  his  History,  45. 

Verne,  Jule?,  ondilologie,  186. 
Verplanck,  Gillian  Crommelin,  lit 

erary  rank,  33. 
Virginia,  University  of.  299. 
Volcano,  illustration,  113. 
Voltaire,  409 
Voting,  done  reluctantly,  152,  153. 

WACHUSETT,  MOUNT,  70. 
Walden  Pond  :  allusion,  22,  70,  72  ; 
cabin,  142,  143.     (See  Concord.) 


War :  outgrown,  88,  89 ;  ennobling, 
288i 

Ware,  Henry,  professorship,  52.  (See 
Jin r rani  L'nirerxity.) 

Ware,  Henry,  Jr.  :  boston  ministry, 
55;  correspondence,  124-127.  (See 
Un  itiirinn  ism,  etc. ) 

Warren,  John  Collins,  Transcenden 
talism  and  Temperance,  149. 

Warren,  Judge,  of  New  Bedford, 
07. 

Warwick  Castle,  fire,  275. 

Washington  City,  addresses,  307. 
(See  Anti-Slavery,  etc.) 

Waterville  College,  Adelphi  Society, 
135-142. 

Webster,  Daniel:  E  B.  Emerson's 
association  with,  19 ;  on  Tudor,  28, 
29 ;  literary  rank,  33  ;  Seventh-of- 
March  Speech,  303 ;  times  men 
tioned,  382. 

Weiss,  John,  Parker  biography, 
308. 

Wellington,  Lord,  seen  by  Emerson, 
03,  04. 

Wesley,  John,  praise  of,  306.  (Seo 
Methodism. ) 

Western  Messenger,  poems  in,  128. 

West  India  Islands,  Edward  B.  Em 
erson's  death,  89. 

Westminster  Abbey,  Emerson's 
visit,  03,  C4.  (Sse  Emerson's 
Rooks,  —  English  Traits,  —  Eng 
land,  etc.) 

Westminster  Catechism,  298.  (See 
Calvinism,  Religion,  etc. ) 

Whipple,  Edwin  Percy:  literary 
rank,  33  ;  club,  223 ;  on  heredity, 
389. 

White  of  Selborne,  228. 

Whitman,  Walt:  his  enumerations, 
325,  326;  journal,  344,  340. 

Wilberforce,  William,  funeral,  64. 

Will :  inspiration  of,  289 ;  power  of, 
290. 

Windermere,  Lake,  70.  (See  Eng 
land.) 

Winthrop,  Francis  William,  in  col 
lege,  45. 

Wolfe,  Charles,  Burial  of  Moore, 
416. 

Woman  :  her  position,  212,  213,  251 ; 
crossing  a  street,  304. 

Woman's  Club,  16. 

Words,  Emerson's  favorite,  404, 405. 
(See  Emerson's  Poems, — Days.) 

Wordsworth,  William :  Emerson's 
account,  (53 ;  early  reception,  Ex 
cursion,  92,  95;  quoted,  90,  97; 
Tintern  Abbey,  103;  influence, 


INDEX. 


441 


148,  150;  poetic  rank,  281,  321; 
on  Immortality,  293,  39'2 ;  popu 
larity,  310;  serenity,  335;  study 
of  nature,  337  ;  times  mentioned, 
382  ;  We  are  Seven,  31)3 ;  prejudice 
against  science,  401. 
Wotton,  Sir  Henry,  quoted,  259. 

YANKEE  :  a  spouting,  130 ;  improve, 


176 ;  whittling,  364.  (See  Amer 
ica,  Kew  England,  etc. ) 

Yoga,  Hindoo  idea,  397. 

Young,  Brigham:  Utah,  2G4,  268; 
on  preexisteuce,  391. 

Young,  Edward,  influence  in  New 
England,  1C,  17. 

ZOLA,  EMILEJ  offensive  realism,  326. 


WORKS   OF 

RALPH  WALDO   EMERSON. 


There  is  no  man  living  to  whom,  as  a  writer,  so  many  of  us  feel  and 
thankfully  acknowledge  so  great  an  indebtedness  for  ennobling  impulses. 
We  look  upon  him  as  one  of  the  few  men  of  genius  whom  our  age  has 
produced ;  and  there  needs  no  better  proof  of  it  than  his  masculine  fac 
ulty  of  fecundating  other  minds.  — JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 

In  doing  homage  to  that  sweet  nature,  we  do  it  to  the  highest  type  of 
our  common  humanity.  Emerson  was  a  splendid  manifestation  of  reason 
in  its  most  comprehensive  form,  and  with  all  its  most  godlike  aspirations. 
— JOHN  TYNDALL. 


COMPLETE  WORKS. 

Riverside  Edition.  With  two  Portraits.  In  11  volumes,  12mo,  gilt  top, 
each,  $1.75.  The  set,  $19.25  ;  half  calf,  $38.50 ;  half  crushed  levant, 
$49.50. 

An  entirely  new  library  edition  of  the  works  of  Mr.  Emerson,  printed 
from  new  electrotype  plates.  It  includes  the  prose  and  poetical  writings 
of  Mr.  Emerson  hitherto  published  in  book  form,  and,  in  addition,  two 
new  volumes  of  essays,  lectures,  and  speeches.  The  order  of  the  volumes 
is  as  follows  :  — 

I.  NATURE,  ADDRESSES,  AND  LECTURES  (formerly  known  as  Miscellanies). 
II.  ESSAYS.     First  Series. 

III.  ESSAYS.    Second  Series. 

IV.  REPRESENTATIVE  MEN. 
V.  ENGLISH  TRAITS. 

VI.  CONDUCT  OP  LIFE. 
VII.  SOCIETY  AND  SOLITUDE. 
VIII.  LETTERS  AND  SOCIAL  AIMS. 
IX.  POEMS. 

X.  LECTURES  AND  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.    (A  new  volume.) 
XI.  MISCELLANIES.     (A  new  volume.) 

The  workmanship  of  this  elegantly  simple  edition  is  what  we  expect 
from  the  taste  that  presides  over  the  publications  of  the  Riverside  Press. 
—  New  York  Evening  Post.  , 

"  Little  Classic  "  Edition.    In  11  volumes,  18mo,  each,  $1.50.     The  pet, 

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Essays.     "Little.  Classic  ;>  Edition.    2  vols.  Half  calf,  §6.00. 

CULTURE,  BEHAVIOR,  BEAUTY,  Power,  Wealth,  Illusions,  Books,  Art,  Elo 
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half  calf,  $4.00  ;  morocco,  or  tree  calf,  $5.00. 

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has  not  added  so  many  thoughts  to  the  treasury  of  the  race.  Such  is  the 
beauty  of  his  speech,  such  the  majesty  of  his  ideas,  such  the  power  of  the 
moral  sentiment  in  men,  and  such  the  impression  which  his  whole  char 
acter  makes  on  them  that  they  lend  him  everywhere  their  ears ;  and 
thousands  bless  his  manly  thoughts.  —  Massachusetts  Quarterly  Review. 

In  no  equal  body  of  writing  is  there  a  more  uniform  value.  It  is  all 
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WORKS  OF 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 


As  he  is  everybody's  favorite,  there  is  no  occasion  for  critics  to  meddle 
with  him,  either  to  censure  or  to  praise.  lie  can  afford  to  laugh  at  the 
whole  reviewing  fraternity.  His  wit  is  all  his  own,  so  sly  and  tingling, 
but  without  a  drop  of  ill-nature  in  it,  and  never  leaving  a  sting  behind. 
His  humor  is  so  grotesque  and  queer  that  it  reminds  one  of  the  frolics  of 
Puck ;  and  deep  pathos  mingles  with  it  so  naturally  that  when  the  read 
er's  eyes  are  brimming  with  tears  he  knows  not  whether  they  have  their 
source  in  sorrow  or  in  laughter.  —  Nortli  American  Review. 

PROSE  WORKS. 

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American  jHen  of  betters* 

EDITED  BY 

CHARLES  DUDLEY  WARNER. 


A  series  of  biographies  of  distinguished  American 
authors,  having  all  the  special  interest  of  biography, 
and  the  larger  interest  and  value  of  illustrating  the 
different  phases  of  American  literature,  the  social, 
political,  and  moral  influences  which  have  moulded 
these  authors  and  the  generations  to  which  they  be 
longed. 

This  series  when  completed  will  form  an  admi 
rable  survey  of  all  that  is  important  and  of  historical 
influence  in  American  literature,  and  will  itself  be  a 
creditable  representation  of  the  literary  and  critical 
ability  of  America  to-day. 

Washington  Irving.    By  CHARLES  DUDLEY  WARNER. 
Noah  Webster.     By  HORACE  E.  SCUDDER. 
Henry  D.  Thoreau.     By  FRANK  B.  SANBORN. 
George  Ripley.    By  OCTAVIUS  BROOKS  FROTHINGHAM. 
J.  Fenimore  Cooper.    By  PROF.  T.  R.  LOUNSBURY. 
Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli.     By  T.  W.  HiGGlNSON. 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.    By  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 
Edgar  Allan  Poe.     By  GEORGE  E.  WOODBERRY. 
Nathaniel  Parker  Willis.    By  HENRY  A.  BEERS. 

IN  PREPARA  TION. 

Edmund  Quincy.    By  SYDNEY  HOWARD  GAY. 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne.     By  JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 
William  Cullen  Bryant.     By  JOHN  BIGELOW. 
Bayard  Taylor.     By  J.  R.  G.  HASSARD. 
William  Gilmore  Simms.     By  GEORGE  W.  CABLE. 
Benjamin  Franklin.     By  JOHN  BACH  McMASTER. 

Others  to  be  announced  hereafter. 


"WASHINGTON    IRVING." 

Mr.  Warner  has  not  only  written  with  sympathy,  mi 
nute  knowledge  of  his  subject,  fine  literary  taste,  and  that 
easy,  fascinating  style  which  always  puts  him  on  such 
good  terms  with  his  readers,  but  he  has  shown  a  tact, 
critical  sagacity,  and  sense  of  proportion  full  of  promise 
for  the  rest  of  the  series  which  is  to  pass  under  his 
supervision. — New  York  Tribune. 

It  is  a  very  charming  piece  of  literary  work,  and  pre 
sents  the  reader  with  an  excellent  picture  of  Irving  as  a 
man  and  of  his  methods  as  an  author,  together  with  an 
accurate  and  discriminating  characterization  of  his  works. 
—  Boston  Journal, 

It  would  hardly  be  possible  to  produce  a  fairer  or  more 
candid  book  of  its  kind.  —  Literary  World  (London). 

"NOAH    WEBSTER." 

Mr.  Scudder's  biography  of  Webster  is  alike  honorable 
to  himself  and  its  subject.  Finely  discriminating  in  all 
that  relates  to  personal  and  intellectual  character,  schol 
arly  and  just  in  its  literary  criticisms,  analyses,  and 
estimates,  it  is  besides  so  kindly  and  manly  in  its  tone,  its 
narrative  is  so  spirited  and  enthralling,  its  descriptions 
are  so  quaintly  graphic,  so  varied  and  cheerful  in  their 
coloring,  and  its  pictures  so  teem  with  the  bustle,  the 
movement,  and  the  activities  of  the  real  life  of  a  by-gone 
but  most  interesting  age,  that  the  attention  of  the  reader 
is  never  tempted  to  wander,  and  he  lays  down  the  book 
with  a  sigh  of  regret  for  its  brevity.  —  Harper's  Motithly 
Magazine. 

It  fills  completely  its  place  in  the  purpose  of  this  se 
ries  of  volumes.  —  The  Critic  (New  York). 

"HENRY    D.    THOREAU." 

Mr.  Sanborn's  book  is  thoroughly  American  and  truly 
fascinating.  Its  literary  skill  is  exceptionally  good,  and 
there  is  a  racy  flavor  in  its  pages  and  an  amount  of  exact 
knowledge  of  interesting  people  that  one  seldom  meets 
with  in  current  literature.  Mr.  Sanborn  has  done  Tho- 
reau's  genius  an  imperishable  service.  — American  Church 
Re-view  (New  York). 

Mr.  Sanborn  has  written  a  careful  book  about  a  curious 
man,  whom  he  has  studied  as  impartially  as  possible ; 
whom  he  admires  warmly  but  with  discretion ;  and  the 
story  of  whose  life  he  has  told  with  commendable  frank 
ness  and  simplicity.  —  New  York  Mail  and  Express, 

It  is  undoubtedly  the  best  life  of  Thoreau  extant.  — ~ 
Christian  Advocate  (New  York). 


"GEORGE    RIPLEY." 

Mr.  Frothingham's  memoir  is  a  calm  and  thoughtful 
and  tender  tribute.  It  is  marked  by  rare  discrimination, 
and  good  taste  and  simplicity.  The  biographer  keeps 
himself  in  the  background,  and  lets  his  subject  speak. 
And  the  result  is  one  of  the  best  examples  of  personal 
portraiture  that  we  have  met  with  in  a  long  time.  —  The 
Churchman  (New  York). 

He  has  fulfilled  his  responsible  task  with  admirable 
fidelity,  frank  earnestness,  justice,  fine  feeling,  balanced 
moderation,  delicate  taste,  and  finished  literary  skill.  It 
is  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  high-bred  scholar  and  gener 
ous-hearted  man,  whose  friend  he  has  so  worthily  por 
trayed. —  Rev.  William  H.  Channing  (London). 

"JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER." 
We  have  here  a  model  biography.  The  book  is  charm 
ingly  written,  with  a  felicity  and  vigor  of  diction  that  are 
notable,  and  with  a  humor  sparkling,  racy,  and  never 
obtrusive.  The  story  of  the  life  will  have  something  of 
the  fascination  of  one  of  the  author's  own  romances.  — 
New  York  Tribune. 

Prof.  Lounsbury's  book  is  an  admirable  specimen  of 
literary  biography.  .  .  .  We  can  recall  no  recent  addition 
to  American  biography  in  any  department  which  is  supe 
rior  to  it.  It  gives  the  reader  not  merely  a  full  account 
of  Cooper's  literary  career,  but  there  is  mingled  with  this 
a  sufficient  account  of  the  man  himself  apart  from  his 
books,  and  of  the  period  in  which  he  lived,  to  keep 
alive  the  interest  from  the  first  word  to  the  last.  —  New 
York  Evening  Post.  

"MARGARET    FULLER    OSSOLI." 

Here  at  last  we  have  a  biography  of  one  of  the  noblest 
and  the  most  intellectual  of  American  women,  which  does 
full  justice  to  its  subject.  The  author  has  had  ample 
material  for  his  work,  —  all  the  material  now  available, 
perhaps,  —  and  has  shown  the  skill  of  a  master  in  his 
use  of  it.  .  .  .  It  is  a  fresh  view  of  the  subject,  and  adds 
important  information  to  that  already  given  to  the  public. 
—  REV.  DR.  F.  H.  HEDGE,  in  Boston  Advertiser. 

He  has  filled  a  gap  in  our  literary  history  with  excel 
lent  taste,  with  sound  judgment,  and  with  that  literary 
skill  which  is  preeminently  his  own.  —  Christian  Unioti 
(New  York). 

Mr.  Higginson  writes  with  both  enthusiasm  and  sym 
pathy,  and  makes  a  volume  of  surpassing,  interest.  — 
Commercial  Advertiser  (New  York). 


"RALPH   WALDO   EMERSON." 

A  biography  of  Emerson  by  Holmes  is  a  real  event  in 
American  literature.  .  .  .  He  has  brought  Emerson  him 
self  so  near,  and  painted  him  for  us  with  a  pencil  so 
loving  and  yet  so  just,  that  it  will  remain  with  many  of 
us  a  question  which  shall  be  hereafter  most  dear  to  us, 
the  man  whom  the  artist  thus  reveals,  or  the  artist  him 
self.  —  Standard  (Chicago). 

Dr.  Holmes  has  written  one  of  the  most  delightful 
biographies  that  has  ever  appeared.  Every  page  sparkles 
with  genius.  His  criticisms  are  trenchant,  his  analysis 
clear,  his  sense  of  proportion  delicate,  and  his  sympa 
thies  broad  and  deep.  —  Philadelphia  Press. 


"EDGAR   ALLAN    POE." 

Mr.  Woodberry  has  contrived  with  vast  labor  to  con 
struct  what  must  hereafter  be  called  the  authoritative 
biography  of  Poe  —  a  biography  which  corrects  all  others, 
supplements  all  others,  and  supersedes  all  others.  —  The 
Critic  (New  York). 

The  best  life  of  Poe  that  has  yet  been  written,  and  no 
better  one  is  likely  to  be  written  hereafter.  This  is  high 
praise,  but  it  is  deserved.  Mr,  Woodberry  has  spared  no 
pains  in  exploring  sources  of  information  ;  he  has  shown 
rare  judgment  and  discretion  in  the  interpretation  of  what 
he  has  found ;  he  has  set  forth  everything  frankly  and 
fairly;  and  he  has  brought  to  bear  upon  the  critical  part 
of  his  work  a  keen  instinct,  a  well-informed  mind,  a  sound 
judgment,  and  the  utmost  catholicity  of  spirit. — Commer 
cial  Advertiser  (New  York). 


"NATHANIEL   PARKER  WILLIS." 

Prof.  Beers  has  done  his  work  sympathetically  yet  can 
didly  and  fairly  and  in  a  philosophic  manner,  indicating 
the  status  occupied  by  Willis  in  the  republic  of  letters, 
and  sketching  graphically  his  literary  environment  and 
the  main  springs  of  his  success.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
books  of  an  excellent  series.  —  Buffalo  Times. 

The  work  is  sober,  frank,  honest,  trustworthy,  and  em 
inently  readable.  —  The  Beacon  (Boston). 

A  delightful  biographical  study.  —  Brooklyn  Union. 

*#*  For  sale  by  all  Booksellers.  Sent  by  mail,  post 
paid,  on  receipt  of  price  by  the  Publishers, 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &   CO.,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


American  Statesmen. 

A  Series   of  Biographies  of  Men   conspicuous  in   the 
Political  History  of  the  United  States. 

EDITED    BY 

JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 

The  object  of  this  series  is  not  merely  to  give  a. 
number  of  unconnected  narratives  of  men  in  Ameri 
can  political  life,  but  to  produce  books  which  shall, 
when  taken  together,  indicate  the  lines  of  political 
thought  and  development  in  American  history,  — • 
books  embodying  in  compact  form  the  result  of  ex 
tensive  study  of  the  many  and  diverse  influences 
which  have  combined  to  shape  the  political  history  of 
our  country. 

The  series  is  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  JOHN  T. 
MORSE,  JR.,  whose  historical  and  biographical  writings 
give  ample  assurance  of  his  special  fitness  for  this 
task.  The  volumes  now  ready  are  as  follows :  — 

John  Quincy  Adams.     By  JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 
Alexanaer  Hamilton.     By  HENRY  CABOT  LODGE. 
John  C.  Calhoun.     By  DR.  H.  VON  HOLST. 
Andrew  Jackson.     By  PROF.  W.  G.  SUMNER. 
John  Randolph.     By  HENRY  ADAMS. 
James  Monroe.     By  PRES.  DANIEL  C.  OILMAN, 
Thomas  Jefferson.     By  JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 
Daniel  Webster.     By  HENRY  CABOT  LODGE. 
Albert  Gallatin.     By  JOHN  AUSTIN  STEVENS. 
James  Madison.     By  SYDNEY  HOWARD  GAY. 
John  Adams.     By  JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 
John  Marshall.     By  A.  B.  MAGRUDER. 
Samuel  Adams.     By  JAMES  K.  HOSMER. 

IN  PREPARATION. 
Henry  Clay.     By  Hon.  CARL  SCHURZ. 
Martin  Van  Buren.     By  HON.  WM.  DORSHEIMER. 


ESTIMATES    OF   THE    PRESS. 

"JOHN   QUINCY  ADAMS." 

That  Mr.  Morse's  conclusions  will  in  the  main  be  those  of 
posterity  we  have  very  little  doubt,  and  he  has  set  an  admirable 
example  to  his  coadjutors  in  respect  of  interesting  narrative, 
just  proportion,  and  judicial  candor.  — New  York  Evening  Post. 
The  work  is  done  in  a  vigorous  and  every  way  admirable 
manner,  which  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  touches  the  high  mark 
of  impartial  but  appreciative  history.  —  Independent  (New 
York). 

Mr.  Morse  has  written  closely,  compactly,  intelligently,  fear 
lessly,  honestly.  —  New  York  Times. 


"ALEXANDER   HAMILTON." 

The  biography  of  Mr.  Lodge  is  calm  and  dignified  through 
out.  He  has  the  virtue  —  rare  indeed  among  biographers  — 
of  impartiality.  He  has  done  his  work  with  conscientious  care, 
and  the  biography  of  Hamilton  is  a  book  which  cannot  have 
too  many  readers.  It  is  more  than  a  biography  ;  it  is  a  study 
in  the  science  of  government.  —  St.  Paul  Pioneer-Press, 

Mr.  Lodge's  portrait  of  Hamilton  is  carefully,  impartially,  and 
skilfully  painted,  and  his  study  of  the  epoch  in  which  Hamil 
ton  was  dominant  is  luminous  and  comprehensive. — Philadel 
phia  North  American. 


"JOHN   C.   CALHOUN." 

Dr.  von  Hoist's  volume  is  certainly  not  the  least  valuable  of 
the  three  that  constitute  the  series,  so  far  as  it  has  at  present 
progressed ;  and  of  the  series,  as  a  whole,  it  may  be  said  that 
if  the  succeeding  volumes  are  of  the  same  high  order  of  excel 
lence  as  those  that  have  already  appeared  they  will  serve  a 
valuable  purpose,  not  only  as  exemplifying  American  statesmen, 
but  as  a  means  of  training  in  statesmanship.  —  Boston  Journal. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  skill  with  which  the  political  career 
of  the  great  South  Carolinian  is  portrayed  in  these  pages.  The 
work  is  superior  to  any  other  number  of  the  series  thus  far,  and 
we  do  not  think  it  can  be  surpassed  by  any  of  those  that  are  to 
come.  The  whole  discussion  in  relation  to  Calhoun's  position 
is  eminently  philosophical  and  just. —  The  Dial  (Chicago). 


"ANDREW  JACKSON." 

Prof.  Sumner  has  written  what  we  think  may  rightly  be  called 
an  impartial  life  of  perhaps  the  strongest  personality  that  was 
ever  elected  President,  and  yet  he  has  not  made  his  story  dull. 
He  has,  ...  all  in  all,  made  the  justest  long  estimate  of  Jackson 
that  has  had  itself  put  between  the  covers  of  a  book.  —  New 
York  Times. 

Professor  Sumner's  account  and  estimate  of  Andrew  Jackson 
as  a  statesman  is  one  of  the  most  masterly  monographs  that  we 
have  ever  had  the  pleasure  of  reading.  It  is  calm  and  clear.  •>— 
Providence  Journal. 

A  book  of  exceptional  value  to  students  of  politics.  —  Con- 
gregationalist  (Boston). 

"JOHN    RANDOLPH." 

The  book  has  been  to  me  intensely  interesting.  I  have  been 
especially  struck  by  the  literary  and  historical  merit  of  the  first 
two  chapters  :  they  are  terse  ;  full  of  picture,  suggestion,  life  ; 
with  fine  strokes  of  satire  and  humor.  The  book  is  rich  in  new 
facts  and  side  lights,  and  is  worthy  of  its  place  in  the  already 
brilliant  series  of  monographs  on  American  Statesmen.  I 
heartily  congratulate  Mr.  Morse  over  the  solid  success  the  series 
has  already  won.  —  Prof.  MOSES  COIT  TYLER. 

Remarkably  interesting.  .  .  .  The  biography  has  all  the  ele 
ments  of  popularity,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  widely  read.  —  Hart" 
ford  Courant. 

A  most  lively  and  interesting  volume.  —  New  York  Tribune. 


"JAMES   MONROE." 

In  clearness  of  style,  and  in  all  points  of  literary  workman 
ship,  from  cover  to  cover,  the  volume  is  well-nigh  perfect. 
There  is  also  a  calmness  of  judgment,  a  correctness  of  taste, 
and  an  absence  of  partisanship  which  are  too  frequently  want 
ing  in  biographies,  and  especially  in  political  biographies.  — 
American  Literary  Churchman  (Baltimore). 

At  last  the  character  of  this  distinguished  statesman  has  re 
ceived  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  historian.  His  biographer 
has  written  the  most  satisfactory  account  of  the  life  of  this  il 
lustrious  man  which  has  been  given  the  country.  —  San  Fran* 
cisco  Bulletin. 

A  volume  which  gives  an  excellent  and  well-proportioned 
outline  of  the  eminent  statesman's  career.  —  Boston  Journal. 


"THOMAS   JEFFERSON." 

The  requirements  of  political  biography  have  rarely  been  met 
so  satisfactorily  as  in  this  memoir  of  Jefferson.  .  .  .  Mr.  Morse 
has  shown  himself  amply  competent  for  the  task,  and  he  has 
given  us  a  singularly  just,  well-proportioned  and  interesting 
sketch  of  the  personal  and  political  career  of  the  author  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  —  Boston  Journal- 

The  book  is  exceedingly  interesting  and  readable.  The  at 
tention  of  the  reader  is  strongly  seized  at  once,  and  he  is  carried 
along  in  spite  of  himself,  sometimes  protesting,  sometimes 
doubting,  yet  unable  to  lay  the  book  down.  —  Chicago  Standard. 


"DANIEL   WEBSTER." 

The  massiveness  of  Mr.  Lodge's  subject,  the  compass  and 
high  significance  of  many  of  the  single  themes  with  which  he 
has  had  to  labor,  and  the  voluminous  amount  of  the  material 
requiring  his  critical  study  would  seem  to  have  demanded  a 
singular  skill  of  compression  in  bringing  the  results  within  this 
small  volume.  Yet  the  task  has  been  achieved  ably,  admirably, 
and  faithfully.  —  Boston  Transcript. 

It  will  be  read  by  students  of  history  ;  it  will  be  invaluable  as 
a  work  of  reference  ;  it  will  be  an  authority  as  regards  matters 
of  fact  and  criticism  ;  it  hits  the  key-note  of  Webster's  durable 
and  ever-growing  fame  ;  it  is  adequate,  calm,  impartial ;  it  is 
admirable.  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

"ALBERT   GALLATIN." 

The  greater  part  of  Mr.  Stevens's  frank,  simple,  and  straight 
forward  book  is  devoted  to  a  careful  narrative  of  Gallatin's 
financial  administration,  and  next  in  importance  to  this  is  the 
excellent  chapter  devoted  to  Gallatin's  brilliant  diplomatic  ser 
vices.  The  study  of  an  honorable  and  attractive  character  is 
completed  by  some  interesting  pages  of  personal  and  domestic 
history.  —  New  York  Tribune. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  carefully  prepared  of  these  very  valu 
able  volumes,  .  .  .  abounding  in  information  not  so  readily  ac 
cessible  as  is  that  pertaining  to  men  more  often  treated  by  the 
biographer.  .  .  .  The  whole  work  covers  a  ground  which  the 
political  student  cannot  afford  to  neglect.  —  Boston  Correspon 
dent  Hartford  Courant. 

*«*  For  sale  by  all  Booksellers.  Sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of 
price  by  the  Publishers, 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY,  BOSTON. 


University  of  California  Library 

Los  Angeles  f   < 

This  book  is  DUE  on  die  last  date  stamped  below. 


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